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OUR ASIATIC NEIGHBOURS 



Indian Life, By Herbert Compton 
Japanese Life, By George W, Knox 



IN PBEPABATION 

Chinese Life 



OUR ASIATIC 
NEIGHBOURS 



JAPANESE LIFE IN TOWN AND 
COUNTRY 




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JAPANESE LIFE 
IN TOWN AND 
COUNTRY ft ft 

By George William Knox 



ILLUSTRATED 



G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
NEW YORK AND LONDON 

Zbe Ifmfckerbocfcer ipreee 
1904 



U 1904 

5 ^ XXa. Mo. 



Copyright, 1904 

BY 

G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 




Published, October, 1904 



Ube IKnicfeerbocfeer pxcss, 1Bew l£?or ft 



TO MY WIFE 

WITH MEMORIES OF FIFTEEN HAPPY YEARS IN 
DAI NIPPON 



By permission I have used in this volume, 
chapters vii., ix., and x., portions of my transla- 
tions from Japanese books which have been 
printed in the Transactions of the Asiatic Society 
of Japan, and, chapter viii., in The Independent. 
Acknowledgments are due also to the Rev. C. 
R. Gillett, D.D., L,,H.D., for assistance in read- 
ing the proofs. 

G. W. K. 



CONTENTS 
CHAPTER I 

PAGE 

Introductory— The Point of View i 

CHAPTER II 
The Tradition 10 

CHAPTER III 
Asiatic Civilisation . . . . .18 

CHAPTER IV 
The Feudal Wars 25 

CHAPTER V 
The Awakening . 38 

CHAPTER VI 

Buddhism : The Religion of the Common 
People 62 

CHAPTER VII 

Confucianism : The Religion of Educated 
Men 80 

ix 



x Contents 

CHAPTER VIII 

PAGE 

Philosophy for the People . . . .105 

CHAPTER IX 
The Way of the "Samurai" . . . .121 

CHAPTER X 
The Life of the " Samurai " in Old Japan . 139 

CHAPTER XI 
The Life of the "Samurai," in New Japan . 154 

CHAPTER XII 
The Common People : Farmers, Artisans and 
Artists 184 

CHAPTER XIII 
Merchants, Women, and Servants . . .198 

CHAPTER XIV 
Language, Literature, and Education . . 233 

CHAPTER XV 
Tokyo 252 

Index . . 269 




ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

The Entrance; to the Imperial Gardens, 
Tokyo Frontispiece 

The Home of a Buddhist Monk, Tenanted by 
Foreigners 6 

Dancing Giri+s, Sixteenth Century, Court of 

Hideyoshi 30 

The Approach to the Shrine, Nikko . . 64 

Interior of a Temple in Nikko ... 72 

At Dinner 92 

Crossing the Mountains no 

A Tea House, Middle Class Women . . 126 

In the Palace oe the Shogun, Yedo . . 146 

A Stubby Pony, Shod with Straw and I^aden 
with Country Products . . . .160 

A Farce, before the Wife of the Shogun . 168 

Peasants Transplanting Rice . . . .186 

A Pilgrim to Mt. Fuji 188 

xi 



xii Illustrations 

PAGE 

Massage 208 

Wrestlers, Waiting for the Signal . . 214 

A Resting Place in the Mountains . . 230 

The Prince oe Mito Corrects a Statement 

in the History . . . . . 244 

The Moat where the Lotus Grew . . 254 

The Palace in Kyoto 264 

Map of Japan At End 




JAPANESE LIFE IN TOWN AND 
COUNTRY 



JAPANESE LIFE IN TOWN 
AND COUNTRY 



CHAPTER I 

INTRODUCTORY — TH3 POINT OF VIW 

OUR neighbours on the west, separated from 
us by the widest ocean, are separated from 
us also most completely by race, environment, 
and history. It becomes an axiom, repeated by 
travellers and enforced by scholars, that the Occi- 
dental cannot understand the Oriental. How, 
then, shall we of the extreme West understand the 
farthest East ? The current phrase in Japan has 
it that the longer one is there the less does he know 
of the land and the people, the old resident confess- 
ing ignorance and leaving confident judgments to 
the newcomer. The confession may be the mod- 
est expression of the scholar who with growing 
knowledge is increasingly aware that he is master 
of only a fraction of his subject, or more likely 
it is the outcome of indolence and impatience, an 

i 



2 Japanese Life 

indolence which, finding first impressions wrong, 
is unwilling to take the pains necessary to master 
the data for a mature and correct opinion, and the 
impatience which arises from disappointment as 
the charm of the beginning yields to the dis- 
illusionment of a prolonged residence. Thus is 
created a belief that an inherent unlikeness in 
psychology differentiates European from Asiatic. 

The axiom is supported by wide experience, 
the differences in judgment being extraordinary, 
and seemingly permanent. Japan, for example, 
is the delight of tourists; its art, its customs, its 
scenes, its people have a charm to which all 
but the exceptionally unresponsive traveller yield. 
When after its long seclusion it was once more 
accessible it was like the apparition of another 
world. Even now, when so much is changed, the 
novelty remains, and besides, the very transforma- 
tion affects us like a fairy tale. The novelty, and 
mystery, and romance are the joy of the traveller, 
and he has no wish that the fairy tale be trans- 
lated into the language of every day, nor that 
Japan be shown to be only a portion of our prosaic 
and commonplace world. 

When, however, he decides to dwell in Japan 
his point of view changes. The picturesque 
ceases to fascinate, the novelty wears off", the 
climate is enervating and productive of discomfort 
and disease; the beauty of mountain and plain no 
longer so appeal to him as he thinks them the 
product of a ceaseless seismic activity (the more 



The Point of View 3 

one knows of earthquakes the less one likes them); 
the politeness appears superficial and insincere, 
and business relations leave everything to be de- 
sired. He prefers China, where one can trust the 
merchants, or almost any land east or west. He 
lives, in the foreign settlements, in an atmosphere 
charged with hostility to the " natives," and the 
longer he remains the less can he sympathise with 
the enthusiasm of travellers. He thinks them 
mere visitors at an elaborate play, while he lives 
behind the scenes. 

Of course the difference is in the point of view. 
Japan is strikingly unlike the West, and this con- 
stitutes its charm to the tourist and its offence to 
the resident. Its standards of life differ from our 
own as does its scenery from that of our American 
plains, and the differences in etiquette, in ethics, 
in business methods, in religion, and in general 
in views of life, cause clashes which are unpleas- 
ant and may be disastrous. Hence, if one would 
hear the most unflattering account of the Japanese, 
he should listen to residents of long standing who 
may be supposed to speak with authority. 

Nor is public opinion among foreign residents 
much influenced by the convictions of a few who 
have gone over completely to the Japanese ways 
of life, and use, with the zeal of proselytes, their 
views of the superiority of Japanese art, morality, 
women, and religion to disparage the civilisation 
they have renounced. To the average resident 
such men live in a dreamland of their own, and 



4 Japanese Life 

not in the real Japan of broken contracts, trials, 
constant disappointments, endless postponements, 
and general disillusionment. The few in their 
turn retort that they only penetrate the heart of 
things, and that if the majority does not agree the 
fact is immaterial, and merely shows an inability 
to see and an incapacity to understand. 

A fourth opinion is possible, when Japan is no 
longer judged by its possibilities for furnishing 
new sensations, nor by our standards and its ca- 
pacity to minister to our gain and needs, nor as 
an Oriental paradise where artistic and poetic 
fancies are realised, but as a part of our common 
humanity; or better, when it is not judged at all, 
but is studied that it may be understood. Such a 
purpose can be formed only as we surrender our 
axiom, for if the West cannot understand the East 
that is the end of it; but at least the axiom can be 
accepted only when it is proved, and we may bet- 
ter begin with the more ancient phrase that no- 
thing human is foreign to us. 

There was a time when Japan was enveloped 
in mystery and when ignorance was pardonable. 
For a decade and more after the " open ports" 
were thronged with foreigners, and the Powers 
had their representatives diplomatic and consular, 
and the missionary societies were numerously 
represented, all — merchants, diplomatists, and 
missionaries — were dealing with unknown quanti- 
ties. Naturally grotesque blunders and serious 
errors were made, the Japanese understanding us 



The Point of View 5 

as little as we understood them. But a generation 
has passed and the puzzles have been solved. The 
language is known in all its forms, in its literary 
development and in its relation to its cognates; the 
literature has been read, the philosophy studied, 
and the history investigated; the religion in its 
various forms is understood, the art has been 
sympathetically appreciated and assigned its 
place; the social organisation, the political forma- 
tion, the multitudinous facts bearing upon the 
life of the people have been set forth, discussed, 
tested, and, more or less, submitted to the methods 
of modern science. Moreover, men of intelligence 
have lived for years in intimate association with 
representative members of all classes of society 
and have reported their observations. As a re- 
sult, Japan is known to those who would study it 
as it has never been known to its own people in 
the past. It would seem then an affected humility 
to profess that the West cannot understand the 
East, for in all these results there is nothing in- 
scrutable, nothing even mysterious, nothing to 
lead us to conclude that the Japanese are other 
than men of like passions with ourselves but 
formed in a different environment and educated 
in a different atmosphere. 

From this point of view indeed one may hesitate 
to express confident opinions about " the Japan- 
ese,' ' for the people are no longer seen en masse, 
and among individuals there are differences as 
among ourselves. We are often asked, " Do you 



6 Japanese Life 

like the Japanese ? ■ ' and the answer can be only, 
1 ' Yes and no. Some we like and some we dis- 
like." "Are they trustworthy ?' ' "Yes and 
no. As with other folk, some we trust and some 
we doubt. ' ' " Are they true friends ? ' ' ' ' Again, 
yes and no. As everywhere, we have many ac- 
quaintances and a few true friends." Who can 
answer such questions in truthful generalisations ? 
How we differ in our judgments of Americans or 
Englishmen, and how insufficient in all cases are 
our data as we attempt on the basis of our narrow 
experience to describe the characteristics of a 
people! 

Of course no foreigner sees a people as they see 
themselves. He remains on the outside after all 
and carries a double standard. L,et him be as 
sympathetic as he will, still he is not full partici- 
pator in it all, but remains to some extent a spec- 
tator, his centre of reality not quite coincident 
with theirs, so that an element of illusion remains. 
Possibly this is less of a disturbing element in our 
judgment of the Japanese, since they for a genera- 
tion have sought foreign criticism and judge their 
own performances by their reflection in foreign 
minds. 

Common opinion seems to have decided certain 
points, and a brief reference should be made to 
them. It is agreed that the Chinese excel in 
commercial honesty, and that the Japanese excel 
in patriotism and in soldierly qualities. The 
difference is incontestable and the reason is not 



The Point of View 7 

far to seek. China has been for milleninums a 
peace-loving, commercial nation, and it has de- 
veloped a corresponding ethical and social code. 
Japan up to our own days has been feudal, dis- 
daining trade, with the loyalty, sense of honour, 
and morality of mediaeval Europe, of communities 
everywhere in which war is normal and the soldier 
chief in position and repute. Would we judge 
the Japanese we should look at them through the 
eyes of a Scottish clansman of two hundred years 
ago. The feudal constitution has passed away, 
but not the habits and the morals which were asso- 
ciated with it, so much more easy is it to change 
the outward form than the inner life. So our 
merchants praise the Chinese and our soldiers 
admire the Japanese. Again, all agree that the 
relations between the sexes do not conform to 
high ideals, that is, to our ideals. Neither Con- 
fucianism nor Buddhism did for woman what 
Christianity has accomplished for her, nor does 
there appear in the Japanese a strain of blood like 
the German or the Hebrew. The whole develop- 
ment has been profoundly different, so that to find 
a parallel we must go quite outside our historic 
line and turn, say, to ancient Greece. Then we 
shall have a truer standard and our judgment will 
be, if no less severe, yet more in accordance with 
all the facts. 

The conflict with Russia has brought Japan 
into the centre of Occidental attention. In our 
superficial way we have classed Asiatics together, 



8 Japanese Life 

and we have assumed our own superiority. It 
has seemed a fact, proved by centuries of inter- 
course and generations of conquest, that the Kast 
lacks the power of organisation, of attention to 
details, and of mastery over complicated ma- 
chinery. Japan upsets our deduction by showing 
its equality in these matters, and, on the final 
appeal, by putting itself into the first rank of 
nations. For the time, the judgment of tourists 
and merchants seems at fault, and we ask the ex- 
planation of the phenomenon. Here is a people, 
undoubtedly Asiatic, which shows that it can 
master the science and the methods of the West. 
Can it be that we are less able to understand 
them, and to set forth the reason why they have 
proved themselves our equals in fields we had 
thought exclusively our own ? 

Of this we are assured, we can see them as they 
are only as we know the sources of their life, their 
history, the ideals which have ruled them, and 
the discipline which has trained them. In a 
study of European nations we can take these 
things for granted, as they are of our race, with 
the same traditions, social order, religion, and, in 
part, literature. Our differences are superficial, so 
that we can begin at once with the conditions and 
expression of ordinary life. But in Japan all is 
different, and we must go deeper if we would 
understand the things we see. We must learn 
the formative influences of the past, glancing at 
the history, traditions, social organisation, ethical 



The Point of View 9 

codes, and religious spirit which constitute so 
largely man's experience. With this knowledge 
of the people we shall understand them as we 
mingle with them in the intercourse of every day; 
without it we shall simply add further proof to 
the misleading statement that the West can never 
understand the East. 

L,et us begin then with a review of the traditions 
and the history, although thus we repeat a more 
than thrice-told tale. 




CHAPTER II 



THE TRADITION 



THE Japanese tradition relates the formation 
of the islands and the origin of the race, 
the former crystals from the point of the Creator's 
spear, and the latter the descendants of the gods. 
Iconoclastic science shows the lands to be of vol- 
canic origin, rising out of the Pacific, and the 
people to be Mongolians who came from the con- 
tinent of Asia in successive waves of immigration. 
How long ago they came we do not know, for in 
their earliest memories their migrations were al- 
ready long since forgotten, and no traces of them 
can be found in the greatly older records of China. 
But already, as always with the oldest families, 
others had preceded them and were in possession, 
the non-Mongolian race called Ainu, these in 
their turn having been preceded by still earlier 
settlers, who doubtless in their time made a dwell- 
ing-place for themselves by dispossessing prede- 
cessors. The Japanese followed the good old 

rule, 

. . . " the simple plan, 

That they should take who have the power, 

And they should keep who can," 



10 



The Tradition n 

so that wars ensued for centuries, perhaps for mill- 
enniums, the Ainu mixing sparingly and ineffec- 
tively with the latest invaders and being pushed 
gradually eastward and northward until at last 
they left the main island for Yezo, where a scanty 
remnant still remains, conquered but unabsorbed 
and unassimilated, their ancient ferocity subdued, 
and content if their simple life can furnish means 
for existence and liquor in abundance for feasts, 
a people without history or hope. 

Language allies the Japanese with a group of 
peoples of whom they are chief, the others living 
in the chain of little islands stretching southward 
towards Formosa, and, on the continent, in Korea. 
The same evidence separates them widely from 
the Chinese, for though all are classed as Mon- 
golians and we in our superior way think all 
Mongolians one, yet the languages are wholly 
distinct, in no respect more akin than are Hebrew 
and English. If the two peoples ever were one, it 
was in some far-away place and time which we are 
powerless to name. The Japanese, in any case, 
in remote antiquity, travelled east until farther 
they could not go, and then they conquered the 
Ainu and occupied their land. 

Remote as were their migrations, their records 
are comparatively recent. The traditions were 
first written down in 712 A.D., and the volume 
constitutes the first book written in their tongue, 
Ko-Ji-Ki; the Records of Ancient Matters. The very 
islands, according to one legend, were begotten 



12 Japanese Life 

by the divinities, and by and by after many 
stories of the gods in Heaven, Earth, and Hades, 
the ancestors of the emperor came down from 
heaven. Indeed, the distinction between heaven 
and earth was not great, for the two had features 
of the same kind and were connected by a ladder, 
and an ' ' arrow shot from earth could reach heaven 
and make a hole in it." Up and down the ladder 
went beings, far other than those Jacob saw, hav- 
ing strange adventures. Of one ' ' we learn of his 
conversations with a hare and with a mouse, of 
the prowess and cleverness he displayed on the 
occasion of a visit to his ancestor in Hades, of his 
amours, of his triumphs over his eighty brethren, 
of his reconciliation with his jealous empress, and 
of his numerous descendants." His name, Angli- 
cised, was the " Impetuous Male Deity," and he 
was given dominion over the sea, which, however, 
he never tries to control, but " afterwards appears 
as the capricious and filthy deity of Hades, who, 
however, seems to retain some control over the 
land of the living as he invests his descendant 
of the sixth generation with the sovereignty of 
Japan." But this descendant, whose adventures 
were almost as remarkable as those of his ancestor, 
was ultimately deposed and became himself a god. 
Another descendant of the gods, perhaps of the 
Impetuous Male, perhaps of the Sun-goddess, the 
history leaving us in doubt, became the first ''his- 
toric emperor." Those who would pursue the 
story in detail must be referred to Mr. Chamber- 



The Tradition 13 

Iain's admirable translation, where they will learn 
how the connection with heaven was broken off 
and how it comes a descendant of the deities still 
occupies the Imperial throne. The modern 
Japanese are content with the date assigned to 
Jimmu Tenno, 660 B.C., as the beginning of his- 
tory, but Western scholars are sceptical. Jimmu 
had adventures of his own, meeting people with 
tails, getting a crossbow from heaven, being 
guided by a crow eight feet in length, and marry- 
ing the daughter of a god. He died full of years, 
an hundred and thirty-seven years old. After his 
death troubles ensued which are briefly narrated, 
and then for five hundred years there are simple 
genealogies, with a list of sovereigns noteworthy 
for nothing but the extraordinary length of their 
reigns. When details are again given it is in 
the beginning of the Christian era, and they 
are chiefly marvels. Indeed, the empress (named 
Jingo) who conquered Korea in the third century 
a.d. was aided by " fishes both small and great 
and by a miraculous wave, and not until the be- 
ginning of the fifth century a.d. do the wonders 
cease.' ' 

From these Records of Ancient Matters Mr. 
Chamberlain has reconstructed for us the outlines 
of the primitive society. Wooden huts with mud 
floors and a low shelf running around the room 
on which were spread mats and the skins of beasts, 
were the dwellings. They had holes for windows, 
doors hung on hinges, and were surrounded by 



14 Japanese Life 

fences. The posts were held together by vines 
and thongs, the smoke from the fire finding its 
way out as best it could. There were conveniences 
which surprise us and lead us to expect a delicacy 
and a decency unusual in so low a stage of social 
development, an expectation unhappily disap- 
pointed as the narrative proceeds. Iron was in 
common use, with silver, gold, and bronze as 
curiosities from foreign lands. Food was chiefly 
fish, rice, and game, with vegetables, grains, and 
fruits. Sake made from rice was the intoxicating 
drink. Hempen cloth, the bark of the paper mul- 
berry, skins, straw, and the tendrils of creeping 
plants furnished material for clothes. Naturally 
there were no schools before books, and education 
was confined to practice with bows and arrows. 
We read of hunting, fishing, and war, but not of 
commerce, or money, or trades. Only a love of 
bathing and a certain artistic gift identify the life 
with the civilisation of later days. 

Marriage was a matter of little ceremony or of 
none, and sister and wife were designated by the 
same word. A man might have one wife or 
three, and divorce was at his will. In such a 
primitive society we should not look for language 
or conduct in accordance with our standards, and 
there was an entire unconsciousness of impropri- 
ety even in (< a shocking obscenity of word and 
deed." 

When a man died his hut was deserted and his 
clothing and ornaments were buried with the 



The Tradition 15 

corpse, a custom magnified on the death of a ruler 
to the desertion of the capital and the burying of 
servants alive. After a time images were buried 
as substitutes, and with the coming of a more 
elaborate architecture the other custom fell into 
disuse. 

The gods were as rude as the men; some were 
good and some were bad; some had tails; some 
lived in heaven, some on earth, some in Hades, 
and some divided their time between the three. 
There were gods of the sun and moon and rivers 
and seas; of utensils, of the kitchen, of the earth; 
gods innumerable. The Sun-goddess hid in a cave 
and was enticed out through her jealous curiosity; 
other gods had human wives and adventures in- 
coherent, silly, and worse. Some of the gods are 
deifications of nature's powers, and some are pos- 
sibly formed from the dim, exaggerated traditions 
of heroes, but most of the stories are dull, or re- 
volting, and only a few merit repetition. They 
are in two cycles loosely connected, without real 
unity, and doubtless of very diverse origin. The 
worship of ancestors was not a part of the tradition 
or of the religion. 

There are none of the common stories of our 
Western races, of a " fall of man," an Eden, a 
flood. As we should expect, there is no doctrine 
and no ethics nor any trace of a monotheistic be- 
lief. Diverse superstitions and a belief in dreams 
and divinations prevailed, with prayers and offer- 
ings and hymns to the gods. The temples were 



1 6 Japanese Life 



ordinary huts without images or adornments, and 
the priests were men with a special function added 
to their ordinary avocations. But there were no 
sacrifices, excepting sometimes in extremity the 
offering up of life, and no belief in a future state 
of rewards and punishments, nor in transmigra- 
tion. Purifications by water were the chief 
rites. 

The government was by the rule of petty chiefs, 
and only after centuries was centralisation effected. 
The Emperor long lived with his people and was 
little distinguished from them. Punishments 
were savagely cruel, and terribly revolting pun- 
ishments remained even after the introduction of 
more formal law — the Chinese system involving 
the whole family in the guilt of a single member. 
Early Japan is not attractive, for its Records of 
Ancient Matters make sombre pictures, but so is 
it ever with descriptions of primitive peoples. 
The vital question is whether a race can survive 
contact with a superior civilisation. Shall it con- 
tract only vices and perish in consequence, or shall 
it mingle with its conquerors and lose its identity, 
or like the Ainu shall it offer a dull resistance so 
that in the midst of progress it shall remain un- 
changed? The fit survive, adopting the new 
civilisation, adapting and improving it, and in 
turn becoming contributors to the progress of the 
world. Such a process constitutes the history of 
Japan. The race was active, self-reliant, eager, 
emotional, easily moved by the marvellous, and 



The Tradition 



17 



ready to adopt the wonderful and the novel as its 
own, yet with its distinct characteristics which it 
could not lose, but must impress on its new posses- 
sions. Such were the Japanese in the beginning, 
and so they remain in our day. 




CHAPTER III 

ASIATIC CIVILISATION 

WHILE Japan was still barbarous, China 
was highly civilised. Of the beginnings 
and growth of its civilisation we have no records 
and we are unable to reconstruct the process. In 
the days of Confucius, the sixth century B.C., the 
people lived much as their descendants live to- 
day, and Confucius professed to be a transmitter, 
and not an originator. We are probably within 
the bounds of sober historical statement if we as- 
sert that in the twelfth century B.C. the constitu- 
tion of Chinese society was already formed in its 
essential features as it now endures. In any case, 
no other existing society can dispute with it in 
claims of an unbroken historical continuity and 
of high antiquity. Already, in those remote ages, 
China to itself was the world, the centre of en- 
lightenment, and surrounded only by a fringe of 
barbarians. Self-centred, and cut off by impass- 
able barriers of mountains, deserts, and seas from 
other civilisations, it lived its own life until its 
institutions crystallised and its people identified 

18 



Asiatic Civilisation 19 

them with the laws of nature itself. The thor- 
oughgoing conservatism which seems a part of 
the Chinese people was thus acquired, for in the 
earlier periods of its history it showed itself re- 
sponsive to influences from abroad, as individuals 
still yield readily and completely to a foreign en- 
vironment. Yet, as a whole, never has any other 
people been so true to the spirit and the manners 
of the remote past, and nowhere else has so great 
a multitude been so homogeneous. China has 
been conquered repeatedly by foreign invaders, 
but the native tradition has always imposed itself 
upon the conquerors. 

The chief exception would seem to be in the 
sphere of religion. Confucianism aimed chiefly 
at polity, and its ideal was the high-minded and 
philosophical statesman. It never in its pure 
form satisfied the religious longings of the people. 
Hence Buddhism, brought from India, was wel- 
comed by the masses, and in the year a.d. 45 it 
received the Imperial sanction. It managed to 
adopt the Confucian ethics as its own, forming a 
composite which clear-sighted criticism later on 
was to destroy, and it made a deep impression for 
a thousand years upon the literature, philosophy, 
art, and social life of the Chinese. It was not the 
relatively simple Buddhism of Gautama, but the 
elaborate, metaphysical, theological, mythologi- 
cal, sectarian Buddhism of the Northern School, 
the result of centuries of discussion and of the 
mingling of elements from most diverse sources, 



20 Japanese Life 

China making modifications and additions of its 
own. 

This form of Buddhism furnished the impulse 
from which came the transformation of Japan. 
It has been China's opposite — unconquered by- 
arms, it has been the willing and ready captive of 
civilising influences from abroad. How early it 
felt the influence of China we do not know, for 
the Records of Ancient Matters show many points 
of contact and even in the earliest traditions traces 
can be detected. But from the sixth century of 
our era the influence was direct and transforming. 
Our earliest certain date in Japan is a.d. 552, 
when Buddhist missionaries from Korea entered 
the empire. Thenceforward came a succession 
of artists and scholars and priests who were wel- 
comed, given high position, and identified with 
the people. Japanese in turn visited China, and, 
clear-sighted observers and quick learners, they 
returned enriched with the spoils of foreign travel 
and eager to communicate their wealth to their 
countrymen. 

Naturally, the aristocracy first profited by this 
intercourse. The Court accepted the teaching of 
the strangers without distrust, and only in a 
single instance was there revolutionary reaction, 
and this because of an outburst of superstition 
caused by the prevalence of a plague. On the 
other hand, there was no suspicion that the for- 
eigners desired to rule, or that a religious propa- 
gandism was forerunner of political domination* 



Asiatic Civilisation 21 

Very slowly did the new religion penetrate the 
masses, but after centuries they were won when a 
clever priest taught them how to combine the new 
faith with the old. 

Letters were introduced, that is ideographs, 
and the Chinese language. The first book, our 
Records of Ancient Matters, was written in a.d. 
712 in a form of Japanese which is now archaic. 
Another version of the same ' ' matters ' ' was 
brought out a few years later, dressed up in 
Chinese style, with Chinese philosophy inter- 
woven with the stories of the gods and rhetorical 
Chinese speeches put into their mouths. Chinese 
became the language of scholarship, so that edu- 
cation meant its mastery. The native language, 
however, never completely yielded, but imposed 
its terminations, its post-positions, its order, and 
its syntax upon literature, forming a curious com- 
posite result. Only a few very scholarly men 
mastered the alien language so as to write pure 
Chinese, and others employed a mixture which 
never produced a literature truly great, but re- 
mained as a drag. The pure Japanese was left to 
women, the lower classes, and to certain schools 
of antiquarians, and it had no Dante or Luther to 
raise it to its rightful place of dignity and useful- 
ness. The pronunciation of Chinese was as bar- 
barous as the literary styles in composition, and 
almost as varied, successive generations of teach- 
ers leaving successive fashions of pronunciation, 
until three are recognised and none represents 



22 Japanese Life 

any understandable in China: like the French of 
the Prioress: 

" And French she spake full faire and fetishly, 
After the school of Stratford atte Bow, 
For French of Paris was to her unknown 

For a millennium the priesthood controlled edu- 
cation, the schools being attached to temples. A 
university was established with halls for music, 
medicine, and astrology. The course in medicine, 
for example, included "materia medica, anatomy, 
physiology, and the practice of medicine and sur- 
gery. Medicinal plants were studied as to their 
forms and properties, whilst anatomy, it would 
seem, was taught by plates and diagrams. ' ' Only 
men of specified rank were admitted to this study, 
though the fitness of women for attendance on 
the sick was recognised. Charity hospitals and 
dispensaries were established. 

An elaborate and ornate architecture was intro- 
duced. Temples built of wood near Nara in the 
eighth century remain as monuments of the re- 
ligious fervour and the artistic ability of that re- 
mote age. Of neither can there be doubt. The 
artistic nature of the Japanese people responded 
at once to the opportunity offered it by the teach- 
ing of Chinese art, and their religious feelings 
embraced the foreign creed with enthusiastic zeal, 
indeed, with misguided zeal, since the secular arm 
was called in to punish doubters, and the people 



Asiatic Civilisation 23 

were compelled to accept Buddhism by Imperial 
decree. 

The government was reorganised and an elabo- 
rate official hierarchy on the Chinese model was 
set up. The Emperor became the "Son of 
Heaven ," and was removed from familiar contact 
with the people, the formalities and ceremonies 
of Chinese life becoming naturalised. Laws were 
changed and in place of the rude systems of an- 
cient Japan the developed Chinese jurisprudence 
with courts and judges was adopted, the great 
transformation being effected from barbaric rule 
to formal law. 

It is impossible to follow the story in detail, and 
so much is here introduced merely to emphasise 
the fact that the Japanese of a thousand years ago 
were essentially like the Japanese of to-day, with 
the same receptivity, the same intelligence, the 
same appreciation of the higher good, and the 
same independence in adapting the importations 
to their needs. The result, it is true, was not 
wholly good. As in the case of the language, the 
natural development was checked and a highly 
artificial product resulted, for the Chinese civilisa- 
tion was too complete, too well organised, too im- 
posing, too conscious of its own superiority and 
finality. It could see nothing beyond itself, and 
its mere imitation seemed the attainment of 
perfection. 

L,ife became luxurious, refined, complex, with- 
out high ideals or purposes. A court lady of the 



24 Japanese Life 

eleventh century has left us a novel which pictures 
the life of the time when this Asiatic civilisation 
was at its climax, a book as pure in style as it is 
impure in morals. It is indescribably tedious, its 
characters effeminate, proud, luxurious, super- 
stitious, fond of intrigues in politics and love, but 
constant in neither, dilettante in art and poetry, 
idlers, who prepared their country, which they 
pretended to rule, for the storms which soon 
overtook it. 

For by this time the Empire was ready for revo- 
lution. The emperors no longer ruled, but princely 
families struggled for supremacy, with the spoils 
of office as the stakes, and pleasures of the grosser 
sort as ultimate end. Superstition took the place 
of religion, and literature was without virility. 
Emperors were without power or ambition, often 
mere children adorned with meaningless honours, 
surrounded with burdensome ceremonial, and sys- 
tematically debauched. Had such a civilisation 
continued, Japan would have been as uninterest- 
ing and as ineffective in a few centuries as other 
Asiatic lands. It was not in an effeminate civili- 
sation but in deadly strife that the Japanese ob- 
tained the training which fits them to take a great 
place in the world. In the twelfth century the 
system which had formed around the palace of 
the Emperor broke up and the appeal was made 
to arms. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE) FEUDAL WARS 

TWO great families began the strife in the 
twelfth century a.d. and then for four hun- 
dred years obscure struggles ensued. Family 
fought against family, East against West, and 
adventurer with adventurer. Civilisation almost 
perished, as the cities were destroyed and some- 
times the people lost heart and refused to till the 
ground. The emperors lost even the semblance 
of power and remained in ceremonious confine- 
ment. The court nobles shared the same fate, 
the Shogun (generalissimo) trying to hold the 
actual power, while a body of feudal lords was 
formed which fought each other and governed 
the provinces. At intervals strong leaders ap- 
peared who conquered a peace and made op- 
portunity for a revival of civilisation and the 
development of art and luxury; but no family 
long survived and soon fighting would be resumed. 
Such history need not be repeated in detail, as it 
was partisan strife with no principles involved 
and no constitutional development. Heroic acts, 

25 



26 Japanese Life 

self-sacrifice, and striking deeds there were, but 
loyalty was to persons, so that the warfare led no 
whither. 

The system became more and more complicated. 
The Emperor, as we have seen, was left to a life 
of empty state in Kyoto, his capital, supposed to 
start the machinery of government and then to 
remain apart. Never were de facto and de jure 
powers more widely separated. Why in all these 
centuries did no strong soldier end the elaborate 
farce and make himself in title as in fact supreme ? 
Possibly for the reason which led the Caesars to 
preserve so long the fiction of a republic, or, pos- 
sibly, because it was not unnatural, but expressive 
of a stage in the development of the Japanese and 
congenial to their minds. 

For, sometimes, the Shogun went the way of 
the Emperor and prime ministers ruled, leaving 
two empty shades of power above them. Even 
in the feudatories it was impossible long to make 
nominal and real supremacy one, and the same 
separation followed, the barons {daimyd) becoming 
luxurious weaklings, while ambitious underlings 
ruled in their stead. Often the varying rulers 
were debauched and forced to abdicate that their 
infants might have the name to rule while the 
substance of authority was held by more common 
and more virile hands. 

Learning fell into disrepute and was left to 
priests. The university was given up, medicine 
made no advance, and law gave way to the caprice 



The Feudal Wars 27 

of soldiers and gentlemen. The gentleman (sa- 
murai) was the soldier and, more and more sepa- 
rated from the common people, gained special 
rights and privileges. He corresponded to the 
knights of Europe, but his soldierly loyalty was 
tempered neither by devotion to the Church nor 
to woman. Loyalty was the one virtue, and yet 
the story is disfigured by countless acts of treach- 
ery. Some of the great leaders were monsters of 
cruelty and lust, stopping at nothing when their 
ambitions or their desires were at stake. Even 
the monks partook of the spirit of the age, as 
monasteries became fortresses, bishops were 
barons, and armies of priests defied the strongest 
barons. One line of bishops ruled a great pro- 
vince for a century. 

The connection with China and Korea was 
never wholly broken, and there were repeated im- 
portations of new forms of art, and new customs 
of life for successive waves of influence were felt 
and always from the same quarter. Once, indeed, 
it seemed as if an impulse were to be received from 
another source, and had it been effective and per- 
manent the story of East and West would have 
been greatly altered. 

For in the sixteenth century was the episode of 
foreign intercourse. Europeans went to Japan, 
where a warm welcome greeted merchants and 
missionaries. Commerce prospered, and mission- 
aries made many converts. The Roman Church 
believed that it had added another empire to its 



28 Japanese Life 

wide dominion, when Xavier went to Japan in 
1549, and for forty years the priests who followed 
him laboured without hindrance and with distin- 
guished success. Then hostilities began. It was 
an unfortunate time in Europe and in Japan alike. 
Protestant was arrayed against Catholic, and for- 
eign commerce was little removed from piracy. 
European enmity was transferred to Japanese 
soil, and the different nationalities accused each 
other to the rulers of Japan. Even in the Roman 
Church order quarrelled with order, the native 
converts outdoing their teachers in violence. As 
Buddhism had used force, so Catholic barons at- 
tempted to uproot it by force and commanded 
their subjects to be baptised. Success proved 
dangerous, for Christian barons fought in the 
feudal wars, and in the final great war enlisted 
on the wrong, that is, the weaker, side. So the 
Church went down in their overthrow. Buddhism 
proved again that it could persecute, religious in- 
tolerance adding fury to political strife. The mis- 
sionaries were charged with political intrigue and 
the desire to establish foreign domination, but 
there is no proof that such designs were seriously 
entertained. In any case, a decree was formu- 
lated expelling foreigners and punishing the pro- 
fession of Christianity with death. The history 
of the Church contains no chapter more bloody 
than the account of its destruction in Japan. 
Christians in multitudes refused to recant, and 
were put to death. Some of the foreign priests 



The Feudal Wars 29 

courted martyrdom, defying the Government. 
The persecutions lasted for fifty years and ceased 
only when there remained none to be persecuted. 
As Protestantism was destroyed in Spain, so per- 
ished the Roman Church in Japan, and for two 
centuries the laws remained, constantly pro- 
claimed but without victims. Yet when at last 
foreigners again came to Japan, more than three 
hundred years after Xavier, missionaries found 
communities who in secret had kept the faith, 
without priest, or sacrament, or open assembly, 
or sacred books. From father to son the tradition 
had been handed down, so that when the day 
of freedom again dawned four thousand Roman 
Catholics hailed its coming, a fact to be pondered 
by those who think the Japanese fickle and with- 
out firmness of convictions or permanence of faith. 
With the Church destroyed and foreigners ban- 
ished, Japan entered upon a period of national 
seclusion, intercourse even with the Chinese being 
subjected to severe restrictions. The Dutch ob- 
tained scanty privileges on humiliating terms, 
and through them came intelligence of the Western 
world, but this intelligence was denied to the peo- 
ple, and among the rulers was prized only by 
a few men of exceptional intellectual curiosity. 
The knowledge of the outer world faded away and 
nothing remained save a hatred of Christianity 
and a dread of foreign dominion. For European 
intercourse had been a mere episode without per- 
manent impression, excepting its transformation 



30 Japanese Life 

of the policy of the Government into rigid exclu- 
sion. When in the nineteenth century the West 
again came into contact with the East, the policy 
seemed characteristic, and its sudden reversal in- 
dicative of fickleness, But Japan is not self-cen- 
tred like China, nor is it dominated by caste like 
India. Its isolation was the exception, an episode 
due to special causes, in a history characterised 
in its whole development by hospitality and re- 
ceptivity. 

At the close of the four hundred years of feudal 
warfare a group of great men shaped the policy 
of the Empire and after more hard fighting at 
home and in Korea gave peace to the Empire. 
The fighting must not detain us, not even the in- 
vasion of Korea. In it one of the two commanders 
was a Christian and thousands of Catholics were 
with him. It was a war undertaken in part from 
the love of conquest, and in part from the exi- 
gencies of politics at home. It achieved success 
in the beginning, but terminated in failure, though 
it destroyed Korean prosperity and inflicted losses 
from which that kingdom has not yet recovered. 
It added also another impulse to the reviving art 
industries of Japan. The ruler of Japan was 
Hideyoshi, one of the many characters in the his- 
tory who combined opposite qualities. He was a 
great warrior and a great promoter of the arts of 
peace: he was magnanimous to defeated enemies, 
yet revelled in wanton cruelties; he was a wise 
administrator and a shameless debauchee: he 




rh 



DANCING GIRLS. SIXTEENTH CENTURY, COURT OF HIDEYOSHI. 



The Feudal Wars 3 1 

surrounded himself with able men, but was un- 
able to give permanent peace to the country or to 
transmit his power to his descendants. His most 
trusted lieutenant was Tokugawa Ieyasu, who 
was his equal in war and his master in intrigue. 
After Hideyoshi's death, Ieyasu turned against 
his lord's son, defeated him in battle, destroyed 
his power, and took the Empire for himself. The 
Christians in these wars fought loyally on the los- 
ing side and suffered the inevitable consequence. 

Had Tokugawa Ie}^asu been merely a success- 
ful soldier his power would have disappeared like 
that of so many who had preceded him, but he 
was a statesman of the clearest insight and mas- 
tered the situation. He had conquered a peace 
like many another: unlike them, could he pre- 
serve it ? He had gained supreme power: could 
he transmit it to his descendants? He solved 
both problems with entire success, his peace en- 
during for two centuries and a half, and his family 
remaining in power for fifteen reigns. He made 
the House of Tokugawa unquestionably first in 
martial power; he gave his men-at-arms rank 
equal to that of the feudal nobles; he rewarded 
his chief soldiers and the members of his family 
with lands and rank, so arranging their fiefs that 
they controlled all the strategic points; he dispos- 
sessed opposing barons, or gave them less im- 
portant fiefs, or hemmed them in and made them 
powerless by the disposition of barons bound by 
firm ties to the fortunes of his house; he treated 



32 Japanese Life 

the Emperor with respect, but left him without 
power, forbidding the feudal lords to enter the 
city where he dwelt; and finally, he forced the 
barons to maintain mansions in Yedo, the Toku- 
gawa capital, where they were to remain half 
their time, and where they left members of their 
families in their absence as hostages. The nobles 
went to Yedo with retinues of retainers, and at 
great expense. Were there signs of too great 
power, they were given exhausting tasks as 
honours, or other means were found for their im- 
poverishment. The city was like a vast perma- 
nent camp, the Shogun dwelling secure in the 
centre, and the barons skilfully arranged as checks 
upon each other so that no chance for a successful 
plot or for an insurrection ever came even to the 
desperate courage of a Japanese. 

Thus Ieyasu succeeded where Napoleon failed. 
The great Frenchman desired to be at the head 
of a family of kings, to rearrange the map of 
Europe, to make Paris its capital, and to compel 
all sovereigns to maintain mansions there for resi- 
dence a portion of the time. Had he succeeded 
in his dream Europe too might have enjoyed the 
advantages of inglorious peace, resting content in 
submission to sovereign power. But as even a 
Napoleon did not think of taking the Papal crown, 
so Ieyasu was content with the substance of power, 
and did not aspire to be emperor, leaving the 
Mikado his dignity, his ceremony, and his undis- 
turbed leisure. 



The Feudal Wars 33 

The Orient is supposed by many students to 
want the power of organisation and attention to 
details, which are held to be the endowments ex- 
clusively of the modern Western mind, and, there- 
fore, the success of the Japanese in their conduct 
of war is thought exceptional and mysterious. 
We forget the great Oriental empires of the past, 
and we forget, or do not know, that the reorgani- 
sation of Japan in our day with its mastery of 
modern civilisation and its insight into the situa- 
tion and its patient attention to details is only a 
new exhibition of a power manifested repeatedly 
before, never manifested more clearly than in the 
reorganisation of the Empire by Ieyasu, a re- 
organisation which proved its perfectness by its 
endurance of the tests of two centuries and a half. 

The House of Tokugawa was munificent patron 
of literature, art, and religion. The university 
was re-established, an indication of a revival of 
learning. Thenceforth letters were no longer the 
exclusive possession of priests, but became indis- 
pensable to the equipment of the gentleman, so 
that great schools were formed in the provinces. 
Chinese philosophy, history, and ethics were re- 
introduced, and shaped decisively all culture. 
Yet centuries of study of this foreign learning 
could not eradicate Japanese peculiarities, but 
even among the partisans for the strictest Chinese 
orthodoxy there remained characteristics which 
could not be transformed, for Japan could not be 
made Chinese, not even by the most assiduous 



34 Japanese Life 

study of Chinese literature and the most willing 
adoption of Chinese ideals. 

The nobles vied in the arts of peace as they had 
competed in the art of war. Etiquette became 
matter of enactment and ceremony took its place 
among the greater interests of life. Some of the 
clans lost their warlike prowess, and others re- 
tained it by strenuous endeavour. The past was 
forgotten as the people came to think of the sys- 
tem under which they lived as if it were ordained 
by Heaven. A few specialists investigated " an- 
cient matters " and knew the truth, but the Toku- 
gawa family held historical investigation well in 
hand and permitted results to be made known 
only within limits. Religion, like the rest, was 
the instrument of the State. Buddhism never re- 
covered from the effect of the feudal wars, and 
was unable as in the past to play a great part in 
the State, for the Tokugawa family endowed the 
establishment and controlled it. Gentlemen, en- 
lightened by the Chinese philosophy, came to look 
upon religion as useful in its place, and to be 
given outward respect, but as having no imme- 
diate interest for men who had acquired a loftier 
guide to life. 

Tokugawa Ieyasu had some great successors, 
but, of necessity, the succession of able men could 
not be maintained. The family went the way of 
other Oriental dynasties, it became effeminate, 
and was hedged around by ceremonies. The 
Shogun was a state prisoner, not knowing the 



The Feudal Wars 35 

world, but studying it in toy gardens and villages 
in his own castle enclosures. He no longer went 
forth at the head of his retainers to hunt, but was 
weak in body as in mind. The feudal nobles also 
were debauched, and their governments were 
managed by ambitious samurai^ everywhere with 
intrigue and the old separation between de jure 
and de facto powers. The Government ran on by 
inertia, machinery taking the place of men, but 
Ieyasu and his grandson Iemitsu had planned it 
well. It might have run on still for generations, 
growing more and more complicated with age, for 
the forces which opposed the system had no co- 
hesion in any common object. In 1853, however, 
a new factor entered: the guns of Commodore 
Perry were heard in Yedo Bay. 

The highest achievement of the long period we 
have so hurriedly reviewed, from the beginning 
of the feudal wars in the twelfth century, was the 
formation of the character of the gentleman, the 
samurai. Under the Tokugawa regime the ideal 
was completed. By heredity he was a soldier, 
and he was trained to think unhesitating loyalty 
the chief end of man. For his master no labour 
nor any sacrifice was too great. To his duties as 
soldier he added those of administrator, for there 
was no division of the powers of government, but 
all were concentrated in this class. Even the 
control by the nobles was nominal, so that the 
leading samurai were men of affairs accustomed 
to deal with all the interests of the province. 



36 Japanese Life 

They constituted also the learned class. In the 
seventeenth century it is true it was necessary to 
argue the point and to show that learning is not 
the province solely of the priest and that it does 
not make its votaries effeminate, but soon, under 
the sway of the Tokugawa family, it became a 
proverb that arms and learning are to the samurai 
like the two wings of a bird. The class num- 
bered perhaps four hundred thousand men, to 
whom the ideals of loyalty and learning, the habit 
of command, and the experience of government 
were by inheritance; naturally they were the 
leaders as the rulers of the people. 

Doubtless too often the ideal was not realised, 
and high-sounding maxims did not represent the 
practice, and yet, allowing as everywhere for the 
difference between the ideal and the real, it was 
the glory of Japan that it produced the ideal, and 
that so many men strove worthily to realise it in 
life. 

Something should be added of the influence of 
the feudal system. It supplied an element of 
rivalry and kept the stronger clans alert. Some 
of them never forgot the earlier struggles, nor 
ceased to regard the House of Tokugawa as their 
enemy. This relationship supplied in a degree 
the want of foreign intercourse, keeping alive in 
its absence the feeling of patriotism. That was, 
it is true, only devotion to a clan, but it gained in 
intensity what it lost in breadth. The enforced 
residence in Yedo was not without its effect, 



The Feudal Wars 37 

bringing the representatives of the different clans 
into contact and supplying opportunities for peace- 
ful rivalry. Thus even during the long period of 
isolation and peace the empire represented the 
world in miniature, and supplied itself with the 
elements found elsewhere in the meeting of nation 
with nation and of race with race. Still it was in 
miniature, and the different factions were of one 
race and of one type, so that progress was meagre, 
and before the close of the period under review its 
possibilities had been exhausted. Without con- 
tact with other races and ideals further progress 
could not be. 




CHAPTER V 

THE AWAKENING 

THUS Japan had reached the limits of its 
possible development under its old ideals 
and organisation, and needed contact with fresh 
sources of life. Feudalism controlled by a central 
autocratic power, religion for the people but sub- 
sidised and governed by the State, an orthodox 
philosophy taught in the schools with divergent 
teaching forbidden, art and literature and eti- 
quette becoming more and more precise and 
minute, but without new motifs or great move- 
ments, a peace so profound that war was only the 
dim tradition of centuries past, a social system 
crystallised, — the scheme was complete without 
so much as a desire for change. Groups of men, 
here and there, it is true objected to this or that, 
criticised, from the stores of history showed other 
systems to be possible or of higher right, but they 
effected nothing, and no organisation was formed 
seeking to take their theories into the domain of 
practical politics. 

The self-contentment was so complete that 

38 



The Awakening 39 

events from without could disturb it no more than 
critics within. Early in the nineteenth century, 
Russia encroached upon the Japanese domain in 
the North, and finally forced the unequal exchange 
of Saghalin for the Kurile Islands. Repeatedly 
British ships came to Japan, the increasing im- 
portance of the Pacific Ocean to commerce making 
isolation impossible, and finally, in part through 
the Dutch at Nagasaki, and in part through the 
researches of native scholars, the condition of the 
Western world was brought to the attention of 
the Government, but all was without effect. The 
Government permitted matters to drift, neither 
fitting itself for effective resistance nor attempting 
preparation for the new state of things. 

For not only had the development possible 
under the old ideals reached its limits, but, also, 
the men in control of affairs were no longer com- 
petent. The Shogun was imbecile, and his coun- 
sellors without vigour or high intelligence: the 
daimyo with few exceptions were debauchees 
without grasp upon government, their higher 
officials too were like themselves, and the re- 
tainers of the Shogun were proud, effeminate, 
fond of luxury, and without martial spirit. The 
people were oppressed and the officials were cor- 
rupt. Religion had long since lost its influence 
upon the higher classes, and now the priests were 
immoral and the people indifferent. Even the 
Chinese philosophy had run its course; still taught 
in the schools and enforced by law, its fundamental 



4o Japanese Life 

principles were disputed, and when freedom of 
opinion was permitted after the opening of Japan, 
it proved that few really accepted them. 

Japan seemed to repeat the story of its past. 
Awakened by China, it had developed a luxurious 
and refined civilisation, but in the course of four 
centuries this had reached its culmination, and 
soon ran its course, the Government becoming 
pleasure-loving, corrupt, and imbecile. Then the 
system vanished, and the nation for centuries 
worked out a new system through struggle and 
war. The new system endured for two centuries 
and a half, bringing again a condition without 
promise or possibility of progress. Its end must 
come, either as in the twelfth century by internal 
war, or by some great impulse from abroad. The 
only possible alternative was stagnation, and, as 
in China and still more in Korea, a descent to 
lower and lower depths. 

The impulse, as we know, came from without, 
when Commodore Perry sailed into Yedo Bay. 
The authorities were panic-stricken. They could 
neither resist nor accept the situation, but tem- 
porised and compromised in the vain hope that 
something would turn up. The treaty with Perry 
was made in 1854, and was followed soon by 
similar treaties with England, France, and Russia, 
treaties which were meagre, merely making pro- 
vision for the succour of distressed vessels and 
the residence of a foreign agent to see to the 
carrying out of the articles, but profoundly sig- 



The Awakening 41 

nificant as marking the end of the ancient policy 
and regime. In 1858, Mr. Townsend Harris, the 
accomplished agent of the United States, suc- 
ceeded in getting a real treaty of friendship and 
commerce. Commodore Perry had gained his 
point by the display of overwhelming force and 
by threats. Mr. Harris had no ships, but he 
made his defenceless position his strongest argu- 
ment. For a time he could accomplish nothing, 
the ministers in Yedo would not so much as see 
him, and he bemoaned his lonely and purposeless 
exile. But in China the English and the French 
were at war with the Chinese, trying to arouse 
them to the knowledge that the century was the 
nineteenth and commercial, even at the cannon's 
mouth. In Japan, Mr. Harris and the Govern- 
ment were watching the progress of events. When 
the Peiho forts fell and the way was opened for 
the allies to Pekin, greater were the consequences 
in Japan than in China. Mr. Harris hurried to 
Yedo, whither the news had preceded him. He 
had attentive audience at once, and for six hours 
spoke to the ministers of the Shogun, setting forth 
the condition of the Western world and urging 
the acceptance of his treaty. He pointed out the 
defenceless condition of Japan and asked how it 
could resist when China was helpless, and he 
threatened the coming of the allied fleets, when 
they should finish their present work. He in- 
sisted on the advantage of dealing with him, an 
unarmed man, instead of treating with ambassa- 



42 Japanese Life 

dors backed by victorious fleets. His arguments 
were irresistible, and when, later, Europeans fol- 
lowed they accepted his work and made treaties 
to the same effect. 

Thus threats forced back the reluctant gates a 
little when Perry made his treaty, and threats 
forced them wider open when Harris, unarmed, 
gained his point. The Government was irresolute 
and ill advised . It needed beyond all else strength 
and straightforwardness. It made the treaties re- 
luctantly, and with the expectation of a return to 
the old condition a little later on. Some states- 
men recognised that a good deal of time might 
be needed; a very few soon came to see that it 
were better to cease the effort and to prepare 
frankly for the new situation. Probably this be- 
came the prevailing opinion in the Government, 
but it faced both ways. It made the treaties with 
the foreigners, but it repudiated them to the Em- 
peror and to the feudatories. It would not take 
boldly the responsibility for its course, but tem- 
porised and prevaricated. Its one strong man 
who might have saved the situation was assas- 
sinated, and things went from bad to worse. 

All the elements of dissatisfaction came to the 
surface. 

The ancient clan jealousies of the House of 
Tokugawa, nourished by the remote and warlike 
clans of Choshu and Satsuma, the influence of the 
little cliques of literary men who had vainly taught 
that the rule of the Shogun was an usurpation, the 



The Awakening 43 

ambition of young samurai tired of inglorious 
peace, the discontent of multitudes for varied 
causes accumulated during the long reign, — all 
these and more combined with the anti-foreign 
spirit which, cultivated for three centuries, repre- 
sented foreign intercourse as preliminary to foreign 
domination, and foreign residence as a profanation 
of the lands of the divinities. Patriotism awoke, 
not now the patriotism of the clan but of the na- 
tion. It was something new, for, with Japan as 
the all, why should one be loyal to it? Even the 
repulse of the Mongols in the thirteenth century 
and the invasion of Korea in the sixteenth had 
been regarded not as national, but as tribal, or, at 
most, partisan struggles, the nation not yet come 
to self-consciousness. But now, with a few men, 
clan loyalty gave place to patriotism, as not this 
clan nor that, but the nation, seemed at once 
threatened by the barbarians and disgraced by 
the craven yielding of the Shogun. 

The Government was not only double-faced and 
undecided, but in the crisis it abdicated some of 
its functions and proved untrue to the funda- 
mental principles of the Tokugawa rule. For 
example, it attempted to shift the responsibility, 
once by calling a council of the great feudatories, 
and again by asking decision by the Emperor. In 
both instances it reversed the settled policy of its 
rule, for autocracy was its principle and the Em- 
peror was expressly excluded from sharing in 
affairs of State, which were all reserved for the 



44 Japanese Life 

Court of the Shogun. With this reference to the 
Emperor, the position of the Shogun became 
doubly difficult towards the foreigners, it having 
signed treaties with them as supreme, while now 
the Emperor denounced the engagements thus 
entered into, and commanded the expulsion of the 
barbarians by force. The situation, indeed, was 
impossible: intrigue, double-dealing, assassina- 
tions, civil war, divided counsels everywhere; an 
end must come, and it all depended upon which 
party should possess the strongest and clearest- 
sighted men. Tokugawa was weighed in the 
balance and found wanting, without wisdom to 
decide or energy to execute. The Court at Kyoto 
was equally unable to meet the crisis, being at 
once without experience and without leaders. 
The daimyo, with very few exceptions, were im- 
becile, or debauched. The great retainers of the 
Tokugawa family were like the daimyo, hence the 
natural leaders of the State in its hour of peril 
could neither see clearly nor act decisively. The 
regeneration of the nation came from a group of 
samurai. 

Two great clans, Satsuma and Choshu, in the 
west of the Empire, led. They from the beginning 
of its rule had hated the Tokugawa family, and, 
farthest from its control, had never come com- 
pletely under its dominion. Now hatred of the 
ruling house combined with the desire for the ex- 
pulsion of the barbarians. But events occurred 
which proved conclusively that the second part 



The Awakening 45 

of the programme was impracticable, and sub- 
stituted the destruction of the Tokugawa rule for 
the war upon the foreigners, though for a time the 
two cries were combined in the rallying of the 
forces. 

In forming their treaties, Perry and Harris 
used only threats and the show of force; others 
who succeeded them were not so forbearing. The 
representatives of the Powers felt themselves sur- 
rounded by dangers, in the midst of mysterious 
complications. The Government was a riddle 
whose meaning they could not guess, and the 
Shogun seemed to play a game of interminable 
intrigue. Besides, foreigners were possessed with 
the notion that Oriental diplomacy cannot be 
trusted. Mr. Harris only understood the real 
situation through his sympathy with the people, 
but he left in 1861, and thenceforth the Powers 
acted together, with England in the lead. The 
British Minister, Sir Rutherford Alcock, describes 
the East as a bad school for diplomatists, since 
there are only two classes, the oppressors and the 
oppressed, and neither he nor his successor had 
any notion of being included in the second class; 
hence Japanese intrigue must be met by threats, 
and its weakness remedied by the application of 
foreign force. 

An Englishman affronted the train of the lord 
of Satsuma and was promptly cut down by his 
men-at-arms. The British Government demanded 
an indemnity from the Shogun's Government and 



4 6 Japanese Life 

the punishment of Satsuma. The first was paid, 
but the second demand was beyond the powers 
of the Government, so the British minister sent a 
fleet and bombarded the capital of the province 
and destroyed its fleet. It was a flagrant atrocity, 
but it taught Satsuma that the Japanese could 
not cope with the foreigner, but must learn from 
him if equality were to be attained. 

At the command of the Emperor, wrongly in- 
voked by Tokugawa,the Choshu clan fired upon 
foreign merchantmen sailing through the straits 
of Shimon oseki. The foreign ministers combined, 
demanded an indemnity, and bombarded the 
capital of Choshu. Thus this clan learned its 
lesson : foremost as it had been in the anti-foreign 
agitation, it could not expel the barbarians; it 
must learn from them. 

So, finally, these two clans united to punish 
Tokugawa, and two other powerful and warlike 
clans, Tosa and Hizen, joined with them. The 
coalition was brought about by samurai who went 
from clan to clan and talked over the situation, 
and gained each other's confidence and adherence. 
It was something unheard of, for in the past no 
samurai would have ventured to intrude upon 
the domain of another clan. The daimyo were 
won over. The head of the Satsuma clan was 
promised the shogunate for himself, the lord of 
Tosa was ready for sacrifices, and the chiefs of the 
other two provinces ruled only in name. The 
leaders were a little group of samurai, who formed 



The Awakening 47 

the Three- Clan league, also called from the first 
syllables of the clan names, Sat-Cho-To. 

The leaders were convinced, as we have seen, 
that resistance to the foreigners was impossible, 
but none the less they were prepared to risk war 
for the attainment of their purpose. As a rallying 
cry, " Expel the barbarians ! " was a necessity, 
and, if forced by necessity, they should be obliged 
to prove to their followers the impossibility of the 
task, they were ready for that issue. In the be- 
ginning the purpose was merely to substitute the 
House of Satsuma for the House of Tokugawa 
and to continue the shogunate. But very speedily 
it became apparent that the division of the power 
between the Emperor and the Shogun was im- 
possible in the new state of things; therefore the 
Prince of Satsuma was led to accept an offer of 
the highest position at the Court of the Emperor 
and gave his influence henceforth to the unifica- 
tion of the Government. The Prince of Tosa was 
a far-sighted and patriotic man who entered into 
the plans of his samurai and strongly supported 
the common cause. The other daimyo imme- 
diately concerned were imbecile. 

The four clans thus combined, uncertain as to 
details, but determined upon the overthrow of the 
Government, were successful beyond their highest 
hopes. The Shogun, after a brief resistance, sur- 
rendered and abdicated, and though his followers, 
as a forlorn hope, maintained the struggle for 
months, they were ultimately overcome. The 



48 Japanese Life 

British Minister, Sir Harry Parkes, first of all the 
foreign diplomatists to understand the situation, 
added his influence and the power of the diplo- 
matic corps to the cause of the clans. In 1867 
the revolt began — in 1869 the league was in un- 
disputed possession of Japan; in 1871 the feudal 
system fell and the new political development be- 
gan. It has been a wonder to the Western world 
that two hundred and fifty barons should surren- 
der their power and become private citizens, but, 
after all, the force which brought about this sur- 
prising situation was not mysterious, nor was it 
an act of unique self-sacrifice. The leaders of the 
Three- Clan League recognised at an early period 
that their course in overthrowing the shogunate 
carried with it, by logical necessity, the overthrow 
of the feudal system. Japan was no longer to be 
divided into separate principalities with antago- 
nistic interests, but to be united in a common 
cause and against external foes. It was easier to 
abolish the feudal system than to reform it, and 
the conditions already pointed out made the way 
easy. Some of the barons were offered high 
honours and greater powers in the new Govern- 
ment; some of them were half imbeciles, and did 
as their samurai urged. After the few great 
barons were won by promises or cajolery, they 
became examples to the rest, who, besides, had 
no real control even over their own provinces. 
The few who finally resisted the change were 
threatened with overwhelming force and gave at 



The Awakening 49 

last reluctant consent. We should remember that 
in the feudal system in Japan the Tokugawa 
family had accustomed the barons to severe penal- 
ties; it had been no uncommon thing for a baron 
to be removed from his fief and given a second 
of less importance, or even to forfeit his fief alto- 
gether. Therefore, excepting in a few instances, 
the barons did not hold their positions as inalien- 
able, and when, now, by the others in possession 
of the central Government they were summoned to 
resign, they followed precedent in their obedience. 
The barons were pensioned handsomely and, re- 
leased from the burdensome ceremonial of the feu- 
dal system, doubtless enjoyed more of freedom and 
possibly more of luxury than in other days. Their 
retainers were disbanded and pensioned, holding 
only the rank of their fathers, with neither its 
emoluments nor its rights, and, unfitted by train- 
ing for the struggle for existence, many became 
destitute or descended to menial positions. The 
surrender of the fiefs was not more remarkable 
than had been the submission of the barons to 
Ieyasu in the sixteenth century. After the vic- 
tory of the League and its capture of the Govern- 
ment, no rallying-point for opposition remained. 
The barons could be dealt with one by one, — with 
promises, cajolery, or threats, — and to accept the 
inevitable has been a Japanese characteristic from 
time immemorial. 

With the shogunate and the feudal system 
overthrown, it was necessary that the prevailing 



50 Japanese Life 

sentiment, which was still hostile to foreigners, 
should be transformed. The samurai had been 
rallied, as we have seen, with the cry, " Expel the 
barbarians! " They were now to be taught that the 
foreigners were not barbarians, but were fitted to 
be the teachers of the nation. The leaders of the 
clans, themselves quick to perceive the necessities 
of the situation, believed that the same lesson 
would suffice for their followers. The Govern- 
ment on various pretexts sent parties of influential 
samurai from all parts of Japan to America and 
Europe. They learned their lesson at a glance 
and, returning to Japan, became centres of enlight- 
enment, so that a great propaganda began. The 
motives which prompted it were clear. The rec- 
ognition of the vast progress w r hich the West had 
made during the last three centuries, and their con- 
sequent inferiority, caused a resolution to make 
themselves the peers of the most enlightened peo- 
ples of the world. When foreigners had come 
to Japan in the sixteenth century, the Japanese 
were their equals, but now, after this long period, 
foreigners were so far in advance that the Japanese 
felt impelled to put forth all their strength to over- 
take them in the race. But still more influential 
was the recognition of the overwhelming military 
and naval superiority of Western nations. In- 
deed, the alternative was simple — We must learn 
from the foreigners or we must submit to them. 
In the presence of that situation, the course could 
not be doubtful. With intelligence keen enough 



The Awakening 51 

to realise their exact position and the remedy 
for it, patriotism supplied the energy which was 
necessary. The leaders were young and full of 
confidence in themselves and in the capacity of the 
people; what the Westerners had accomplished in 
three hundred years they would do in thirty — no 
task was great enough to daunt them, and each 
man seemed to feel that the regeneration of Japan 
had been put upon himself; so that a new period 
of knightly enterprise began, with books in place 
of swords and Western science in place of foreign 
territories to conquer. Not an impecunious stu- 
dent of them all would admit that he was study- 
ing for any purpose save to fit himself to serve his 
country. Students by hundreds left Japan with- 
out resources or money, but with sublime faith in 
their own capacities to meet whatever strange situ- 
ation foreign lands might possess, in the readiness 
of foreign peoples to bid them welcome and aid 
them in their way, and in their intellectual power 
to cope with all the intricacies and problems of 
modern science. Many of them died in the enter- 
prise, — possibly even a foreign campaign would 
have been no more costly, — but many succeeded 
and, going back to Japan, became leaders in the 
regeneration of their countrymen. 

Foreigners also were brought from America and 
Europe to Japan and institutions in great variety 
were speedily established. It was a period of 
hastily devised plans and imperfect methods, so 
that critics charged the people with being super- 



52 Japanese Life 

ficial, and indeed plan followed plan and method 
was superseded by method with astonishing 
rapidity. But, in an age of experiment, experi- 
ments you must have, and the Japanese were ex- 
perimenting at once with foreign teachers and 
with varying foreign ideals and with the tremen- 
dous task of transforming their own civilisation : 
all were learners together, rulers and ruled alike, 
and the plans which were to stand could be de- 
veloped not in the quiet of the scholar's study, 
but in the midst of the turmoil of actual life. 
The strange fact is that so few mistakes were 
made and that on the whole the successful sub- 
stitution of methods was for the better, until at 
last universities, schools, systems of shipping, 
of transportation, of banking, of police, of the 
postal service, and all the varied activities con- 
nected with the Government were fairly com- 
parable to their prototypes in Western lands. 
Perfection, of course, was far from being attained 
and shortcomings in all departments remained, 
but that such astonishing advance could be made 
is the wonder of our age. And it was possible 
because in all the changing methods one purpose 
remained fixed — to place Japan in the foremost 
rank of the greatest nations of the earth. 

Early in the movement one set of influential 
men from Satsuma withdrew its support from the 
Government and started a counter-revolution. It 
was speedily suppressed, in 1877, and its leader 
perished. Another group afterwards withdrew, 



The Awakening 53 

forming an opposite party, determined to make 
the Government itself not only progressive, but 
constitutional after the English fashion. The 
centre of this " liberal party," as it called itself, 
was in Tosa. Its plans were summed up by 
its leader something as follows: "In the old 
days our gentlemen were equal to the gentlemen 
of Western lands, and to-day I am confident that 
they can acquire all that Western educated men 
have acquired, but my visit to the West con- 
vinced me that the common people there are 
vastly superior to our own. Here in Japan gentle- 
man and commoner have been separated by an 
impassable gulf; customs, language, religion, 
rights — all have been different; but no nation can 
attain the highest success which is dependent 
upon the patriotism and the intelligence of a class; 
only one great purpose is worthy of Japan, viz., 
to make the commons the equals of the samurai — 
not by degrading the latter, but by elevating the 
former. We would make all people in Japan 
equals in education, in civil rights, and in their 
share in the Government, and we would instil the 
same loyalty which in the past has been felt only 
by the gentleman." 

The liberal party was not the only upholder of 
these views, for to this end the Government estab- 
lished its common schools and compelled attend- 
ance; completed its graded system of national 
education from kindergarten to university, and in 
all taught the principles of patriotism and devoted 



54 Japanese Life 

loyalty to country. Therefore the generation of 
men who are now in mature life, trained in these 
schools, no longer remember the state of things 
when only the gentleman had rights and patriot- 
ism, and the common people cowered before his 
ever-ready sword. 

In the transformation of Japan naturally enough 
the samurai have taken the lead; the victorious 
clans filled the public offices with their followers 
and their friends, all the great officers of State and 
their subordinates, the officers of the armv and 
the navy, the entire police force of the Empire, 
most of the teachers in the public schools, the 
men in control of the Government systems of rail- 
ways and of steamboats were of this order; thus 
provision was made at once for tens of thousands 
of men who otherwise would have been set adrift 
upon the world, and their loyalty and intelligence 
were enlisted for the new rfegime. The centralised 
form of government concentrated upon itself the 
loyalty which before had been given to the barons, 
and the intelligence which had been employed in 
the government of the petty principalities, and, 
more than this, through its common schools and 
its endowment of the common people with civil 
rights, it added to the loyalty of the samurai the 
enlightened devotion of the vast multitude of the 
people. 

It is not our purpose to recount the swift 
changes, for the result of thirty years of devoted 
labour is known to all. On the hardest of fields, 



The Awakening 55 

where no excuses are accepted and where no in- 
dulgence is given, Japan proves her reorganisation 
to be complete, as she shows that she has acquired 
the art of modern war on land and sea. Martial 
by heredity and taught a soldier's creed, that 
the Japanese should be brave is natural, but that 
they should have mastered the art of military or- 
ganisation and perfected its details is a surprise 
to the Western mind; but such a mastery of de- 
tails is only a continuance of the same process 
which, under the Tokugawa Government, per- 
fected the feudal system, and gave peace to Japan 
for almost three hundred years. 

In the nature of the case the reformation was 
possible only through the help of foreigners, men 
of many nationalities and many gifts. On the 
whole, Japan was well served and faithfully. 
Army, navy, the departments of Government, the 
postal service, commercial enterprises, the educa- 
tional system, agriculture, medicine, manufac- 
tures, architecture, religion, even distinctively 
Japanese art and the work of the artisan and the 
study of Japanese literature, history, and gram- 
mar, were all influenced, and in some cases com- 
pletely reorganised by foreign residents. How 
large and efficient was the service rendered will 
never be known, for as matter of course the for- 
eigner is ignored and forgotten, and the honour 
is for the people shrewd enough to engage his 
services. Yet here, too, history repeats itself, for 
who remembers the Italians who helped the great 



56 Japanese Life 

Mogul to decorate Agra and Delhi, or the multi- 
tudes of men who have added lustre in all lands 
and times to alien Courts ? If one seeks fame or 
permanent recognition it must be among men of 
his own blood, for even after distinguished services 
abroad he remains an alien, unless, completely 
identified with the people he serves, he loses his 
old nationality in the new. Then, though he 
may make a lasting place for himself, it is at the 
cost of remembrance in his native land. 

If Japan knows well how to employ foreigners 
and to profit by their aid, it knows also how to 
dispense with them. Engagements are short, 
seldom for more than three years, with renewals 
only from year to year, and no hesitation in end- 
ing the engagements if a better or more promising 
candidate for the situation can be found. I know 
of no instance where a foreigner has been given 
power. He can only advise a native who is in 
control, a control made independent of foreign 
advice at the earliest moment. The intense 
earnestness shown by students, the eagerness 
with which they gave themselves to their tasks, 
and their impatience with the ordinary processes 
of education, came in part from their anxiety to 
rid themselves of foreign tutelage, for Japan for 
the Japanese was their guiding principle. 

Naturally such attempts sometimes came too 
soon, and an impression of superficiality and self- 
assertion was made on critics. Nor is it strange 
that Japanese and foreigner did not agree as to 



The Awakening 57 

the time when the former was able to get on with- 
out the latter. The foreign community could 
never be brought to see that its members had 
ceased to be indispensable, so when the control 
of the post-office went completely into native hands 
we should never get our mails, and when the 
English engine-drivers were sent home we should 
never ride from Yokohama to Tokyo in safety, 
and when the army and navy foreign missions 
were given up efficienc}^ would end. Above 
all, when extra-territoriality should be surren- 
dered, justice would for ever fail. So foreigners 
prophesied, and one still meets residents of the 
East who cannot restrain their bitter criticism of 
the self-assertion, superficiality, and self-conceit 
of the Japanese. The front of the offending is 
that in their own land they claim for themselves 
what Americans, Englishmen, Germans, and 
Frenchmen take as matter of course, control of 
their own affairs and of the foreigners within their 
bounds. We Occidentals are so accustomed to 
rule not only ourselves but all others, and to as- 
sert so unhesitatingly our superiority, that we are 
amazed at the self-conceit of another race which 
dares to treat us as equals. Judged by his own 
estimate of his services, the foreigner has had 
neither honour nor emolument sufficient, he has 
been dismissed while still his services were needed, 
and his labours have been reckoned to the credit 
of his employer, but, judged by the treatment the 
foreigner receives in other alien lands from men 



58 Japanese Life 

of his own colour and blood, he has fared as others 
fare, and the Japanese have been considerate, 
faithful to their engagements, and ready to render 
a modest modicum of honour when it is due. 

One cannot pass over the service of mission- 
aries, especially when one has been a missionary 
himself for fifteen years. Some would have us 
think the reformation has been due to their 
labours chiefly, and others that they have accom- 
plished nothing. We already know the forces 
which brought about Japan's transformation, and 
we can readily understand that these forces carried 
with them a large opportunity for the missionaries, 
an opportunity which was seized eagerly. For 
when the ports, in 1859, were opened to foreign 
residents, missionaries were waiting to enter 
them. Nor were they men of inferior attain- 
ments and talents, but worthy representatives of 
the great Churches which sent them. 

In Japan they were not of it: a law forbade the 
profession of their religion, and prejudice hindered 
their access to the people. Only after the revolu- 
tion was there opportunity for open work, and 
during the intervening years they were criticised 
for doing nothing. But they learned the language, 
wrote a dictionary, and broke down prejudice. 
One of them, Dr. Verbeck, gained the confidence 
of the rulers of the Empire, and in high positions 
rendered Japan services which were greatly es- 
teemed and are gratefully remembered ; another, 
Dr. Hepburn, gained a national reputation as a 



The Awakening 59 

skilful physician and a broad-minded philanthro- 
pist, and a third, to mention no more, Dr. S. R. 
Brown, trained a group of young men who have 
been prominent in many positions of influence. 

After the prohibition of Christianity was re- 
pealed, in 1872, and as the people turned to the 
West for guidance and instruction, the missionaries 
were overwhelmed with students and inquirers. 
Their students and the first converts were samurai, 
so that they exerted an influence quite out of pro- 
portion to their numbers. Soon native churches 
were established and a native Christian literature 
created. In all walks of life Christians were 
found, but especially among the educated, so that 
in the Diet, on the newspaper press, in official 
positions, in schools, and in literature they have 
made their mark. For not only were the first 
converts students, but many men who went to 
America and England came back Christians. 

The results have been many. Congregations 
have been organised, a Christian literature has 
been written, Christian schools have been estab- 
lished, and the varied activities of the Church set 
going. In all excepting, perhaps, the education 
of girls, the Japanese are in the lead, and the for- 
eigner, as in other departments, is helper and not 
director. But beyond these direct results an in- 
fluence has been exerted on public morals, creat- 
ing a new sentiment as to woman, as to the claims 
of the sick and the outcast, and, in general, excit- 
ing activity in philanthropic labours for the better- 



60 Japanese Life 

ment of the suffering and the distressed. Besides, 
Buddhism has been forced to new life and a meas- 
ure of reformation, as it follows the Church in 
establishing associations for young men, schools, 
philanthropic societies, and even foreign missions. 
A most thoughtful and widely read man, — thor- 
oughly versed in Eastern literature as in Western 
philosophy, science, and theology, — at once a 
Christian and a fine representative of the genius 
and the traditions of Japan, tells me that the 
highest gift of our religion is the awakening of 
the personality. The universe, to the East, has 
been a vast system and man its highest, though 
temporary, expression. But, to the Christian, man 
gains a new value — as the child of the eternal 
Father. 

In religion as in all else one hesitates to 
prophesy, but if we may judge from the past and 
from our knowledge of Japanese nature, we may 
venture to predict that Christianity will win large 
and direct success only as there arises some native 
apostle who shall command the confidence and 
excite the enthusiasm of his countrymen. Already 
there are competent leaders who have proved what 
men of self-sacrificing devotion and of strong per- 
sonality can accomplish, but the turning of the 
nation to Christianity can be the work only of a 
Japanese St. Paul, I^uther, or Wesley. 

The new Japan is not picturesque like the old: 
the foreign costume is still ill -made and awk- 
wardly worn, the old castle walls fall into decay, 



The Awakening 61 

the feudal mansions are replaced by ugly barracks, 
and twosworded samurai no longer swagger in 
the streets; the dual Government with its mystery 
is gone, and the daimyo are unromantic men of 
wealth living in new houses built in a semi-foreign 
style. The romance disappears, but instead there 
is the throbbing young life with its chivalry and 
patriotism, as intense as ever the fathers felt. 
Transitions are unlovely, but in this bustling, 
unpoetic new Japan is the promise of better things 
than old Japan has ever known. 




CHAPTER VI 
buddhism : the; religion of the; common 

P30PX,3 

WE have briefly sketched the development of 
the people as a background, and now we 
shall attempt to penetrate a little into their life, 
seeking to understand their thoughts and to know 
their feelings. In the new Japan the old persists, 
and we shall start with it, the untouched life which 
still runs on as in the centuries gone by. L,et us 
begin with the Buddhist religion, as throughout 
the whole history it has been pre-eminent in fur- 
nishing the form and fashion in which Japanese 
life has shaped itself. 

Buddhism has covered Japan with its temples 
and fills the air with the melody of its sweet-toned 
bells; its influence has pervaded all society, and 
its impress on the national character remains. It 
came to the Empire in the formative period of the 
nation's life, winning its way without serious ri- 
valry and with all external conditions favourable 
— Korea and China, literature, art, and civilisa- 
tion were its allies, and kings and princes were its 
foster-fathers. 

62 



Buddhism 63 

Buddhism is divided into two great parts, the 
Northern and the Southern School, more divergent 
than are Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. 
The Northern School, called by itself the Great 
Vehicle, is very different from the primitive faith, 
and Japanese Buddhism is of the Great Vehicle — 
farthest in geographical position from the source 
and most divergent in its forms, Indian, Thibetan, 
Chinese, and Japanese changes concealing Gau- 
tama's teaching. His very name takes inferior 
place in the list of gods and Buddhas, and a glance 
about the temples shows the eclectic character of 
the faith. Here are the gods of that old faith 
which Gautama sought to destroy, Brahma, In- 
dra, and many more rising victorious within the 
temples of the hostile faith. With these are Bud- 
dhas many, unhistoric and unreal, usurping the 
place of the historic Buddha, Gautama of In- 
dia. Then come the Bodhisattva, creatures wholly 
alien to the early creed and subversive of its most 
distinctive features; two of these, the thousand- 
armed Kwanon and Amida, having the greatest 
throngs of worshippers. And last are native 
gods, heroes, foxes, ancient emperors, strange 
trees, curious stones, and divine mountains, with 
sun and moon and divinities of the kitchen and 
the gate, and others innumerable dividing the 
worship and the gifts. As the priest in a temple 
in Nikko said one day: " Our sect is liberal, yes, 
we worship all — your Jesus as willingly as the 
rest." The worship has many varieties: ordi- 



64 Japanese Life 

narily the devotee is content with bowing his 
head, clapping his hands, repeating a prayer in 
an unknown tongue, and throwing a coin into a 
box. Sometimes groups of worshippers gather 
with common prayer and chantings to the noise 
of drums, with the use of incense and proces- 
sionals. Much dependence is placed on magic 
formulae and charms; the reading of sacred books 
gains a ' 'merit, ■ ' as do rounds of worship in desig- 
nated temples; there are pilgrimages to famous 
shrines and mountains with a series of festivals. 
Sometimes the festivals last for days, when all the 
attractions of the worship are in full force; the 
temples and surrounding groves crowded with 
thousands, combining picnic with pilgrimage. 
On fixed days sermons are preached, listened to 
by women and the aged; priests in their robes go 
around the streets, droning prayers, ringing bells, 
and seeking pious alms. 

Few of the worshippers know the meaning of 
the rites, and it is * 'like people like priest.' ' Only 
the elect of the brotherhood really understand 
their creed, and gaining information by inquiry is 
wearisome, the answers being so uniformly wrong. 
The many sects differ more than even our Christ- 
ian denominations; some worship all of the Bud- 
dhas, the Indian gods and the native saints; some 
worship only Amida, Buddha of Boundless I4ght; 
some are saved by the painful way of works, and 
some gain heaven by the single repetition of a 
prayer. Some hold forth Nirvana as the reward 



Buddhism 65 

of holiness, and some promise a sensuous paradise 
in return for faith; some accept the interminable 
Chinese canon, some are content with a single 
book, and some hold all learning vain; some are 
philosophical, some trust to vacant contemplation, 
and some praise ignorance. There are ortho- 
dox and reformed Buddhists ; the orthodox reject 
wealth, meat, marriage, and speak of Nirvana; the 
reformed marry, eat as they please, and expect 
a paradise. In all the sects, however, the noble 
eightfold path has been largely overgrown and 
the ethical influence is inconsiderable. At an 
early period indeed the Buddhists in China 
adopted the Confucian ethics, in spite of the fact 
that the antagonism between the two systems is 
irreconcilable, for Buddhism chiefly comes to 
mean withdrawal from the active duties of every 
day, and acceptance of an existence devoted to 
rites or contemplation, while the Chinese morality 
insists upon the importance of the common life. 
There are no sacraments, there are no priests in 
the proper sense, for as men devoted to the way 
of salvation, the only influence of the monks upon 
the multitude is from their willingness to help 
men to gain merit by receiving alms. Rigid 
Buddhists, laymen, maintain a careful account 
with themselves of merits and demerits, a system 
of religious bookkeeping, striking the balance at 
the close of the year being the chief part of their 
sacred activity. 
The system of Buddhism in the beginning of 



66 Japanese Life 

the Tokugawa regime lost much of its influence 
over educated men and became for them only a 
system of burial and other rites. For the common 
people it remained, and still remains to-day, with- 
out dogma, without moral teaching, without much 
appeal to the intelligence, but with a large appeal 
to the aesthetic sensibilities. Nowhere, perhaps, 
have the accessories of religion been more care- 
fully studied, and in no other land is the result 
more attractive to the sense. Here is nothing re- 
pulsive, and the art of an artistic people finds in the 
places of worship its highest expression. It is 
difficult to realise that after all the creed is exotic, 
so suited is it to its environment. There have 
been action and reaction, and Buddhism is of all 
religions most responsive to outward influences, 
yet in all the general type remains the same. 

Its philosophy, mysterious and agnostic, is a 
dreamy idealism which gives up the search for 
origins as unattainable and contents itself with 
phenomena. It cares nothing for logic, but is 
at once mystic and philosophical, its system dis- 
covering itself only to diligent search, with always 
room for debate as to its meaning. In its thor- 
oughgoing historic forms it binds itself to no sharp 
definitions, but is all things to all men, though 
a certain adherence to type must be recognised. 
Its background is unchanging fate. The universe 
follows law: there are birth, growth, strength, de- 
cay, and resolution again into the primitive ele- 
ments, for the world has its birth, growth, maturity, 



Buddhism 67 

and death, like men, and after death is chaos, and 
then the endless round begins again. 

11 That which hath been is that which shall be; 
and that which hath been done is that which shall 
be done; and there is nothing new under the sun." 
Not only does the universe follow for ever the same 
general laws, but the particulars are repeated in 
detail, so that there is constant revolution, but no 
lasting or real progress. States and individuals 
repeat the same old story; in the world age which 
is to come the history of our age shall repeat itself, 
as we but play over again the drama that has been 
played an hundred times before. ' ' One genera- 
tion goeth and another generation cometh, the 
sun also ariseth and the sun goeth down and 
hasteth to. his place where he ariseth; the wind 
moveth toward the south and thither up into the 
north; it turneth about continually in its course 
and the wind returneth again into its circuits; all 
the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; 
into the place whither the rivers go, thither they 
go again/ ' Ecclesiastes sounds like a Buddhist 
sutra. But the Indian system does not stop with 
this material world; heaven and hell and the gods 
and devils share in the ceaseless and fruitless 
round; there is no eternal good, there is no eter- 
nity, but only everlasting change. <l Vanity of 
vanities, saith the preacher; vanity of vanities, all 
is vanity. All things are full of weariness, man 
cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with see- 
ing, nor the ear filled with hearing.' ' This is the 



68 Japanese Life 

beginning of wisdom, a good understanding shall 
they have that keep its precepts. Man is part of 
this fleeting world and is combined of offensive 
impurities; he is full of decay and death; let him 
consider his end and his strength will be an 
offence to him and his beauty but the witness to 
a sepulchre. The longest prosperity is a dream 
and the highest hope ends in death. Man is 
"such stuff as dreams are made on" "and the 
great globe itself, yea, all which it inherit shall 
dissolve, and like this insubstantial pageant 
faded, leave not a rack behind/ ' The imper- 
manence of all is the alpha and omega of philoso- 
phy, and this philosophy is the guide of life. 

Children may amuse themselves with passing 
toys, but men seek permanent possessions; how 
shall their desires be gratified since all things pass 
away, and not in this world only, but in that which 
is to come; for if we heap heaven on heavens, and 
heavens on top of these, and express their duration 
by millions of years until our imagination is ex- 
hausted, yet the end must come: even the highest 
and most spiritual sphere of all is part of the uni- 
versal change. The ages there are passed in bliss, 
but what passes, however long, at last is past; so 
the highest good is relative, for who knows what 
decree of fate may hurl the gods into hell itself? 
Why, then, should man be deceived by this bor- 
rowed lodging which he calls his own or struggle 
for its happiness, since he must go on his way so 
soon ? so the motive that incites to pursuit of hap- 



Buddhism 69 

piness is cut as we learn the impossibility of at- 
taining it, and we turn away from life itself. 

Life comes from desire, so that if we cease to 
fear evil or to desire good, we shall cease to exist. 
The Buddha only is enlightened, since he learns 
this truth not merely for himself, but points out 
the path that leads to its attainment. Salvation 
is not from sacrifice or prayers; the gods cannot 
give it, since they need it as really as do men; the 
Buddha himself cannot bestow it, but can only 
point out the way. Men must save themselves 
by the noble eightfold path — right doctrine, right 
purpose, right tasks, right actions, right living, 
right exertion, right memory, right meditation. 
Those who walk this path must break away from 
home and family and live as monks. Should all 
accept the truth, the business of the world would 
stop at once and the race would die. 

But men who cannot thus at once leave all can 
only hope for a future happier birth, when they 
can fulfil the law, and the ethics of Buddha are 
not the only means by which salvation can be at- 
tained. To feed a Buddha is better than to spend 
a life in toilsome obedience, and even to feed a 
priest is far more than giving alms to a common 
man; to listen to a Buddhist is to gain a merit, 
otherwise unattainable, but the light grows dim 
as the ages pass. While Gautama was alive 
thousands believed on him, but after his extinc- 
tion the word, though it still had power, grew 
less and less as time went on until at last all 



7° Japanese Life 

saving power has gone and none attains salvation: 
but by and by, when things are at their worst, 
another Buddha shall come and the round begin 
again. 

Men's deeds go from age to age; there is no 
soul, but in endless incarnations the sum of all our 
acts lives on and finds fit embodiment again in 
horrid shapes as insects, snakes, or devils, or it 
may live again in angel forms; down in an un- 
ending line through ages and through worlds for 
ever goes the product of our lives, and we ourselves 
are the product of those who have preceded us, 
our place and character fixed by the unchanging 
decree of law. There is a spiritual atavism, for 
law sometimes suspends the execution of its de- 
cree and happiness may seem to follow an evil 
life, but it is only the postponed reward of past 
virtue, and punishment is sure to strike relent- 
lessly in the future; thus the saint may dwell in 
the highest heaven only to be hurled down at last 
to hell in consequence of long-past misdeeds. 

The greatest sect in Japan in the number of its 
adherents turned away from all this system, its 
founder gave up even the worship of the historic 
Buddha and substituted a mythological being; 
indeed, so transformed was the faith that not a 
single characteristic feature was left untouched; 
Amida, Buddha of boundless light, has never 
been on earth and yet, so infinite is his merit and 
compassion, that a single repetition of his name 
gives salvation. This salvation is to no mysteri- 



Buddhism 71 

ous and transcendent Nirvana, but to a paradise in 
the West where all is happiness. In the Middle 
Ages this sect was foremost in war, joining politics 
to religion; its leaders are the most un priestly, and 
of late years it has shown the most vitality, build- 
ing new temples and sending its missionaries to 
Korea and its students to Oxford; its priests 
marry, and its devotees send concubines as gifts to 
the head of their sect. 

Let us visit a Buddhist temple and see it at its 
best. The misty rain drifts unceasing past and 
we catch dimly through the rifts in the clouds the 
rushing torrent far below; waterfall and river and 
waving pines mingle their soft voices with the 
endless drip from roof and balcony; the matted 
floor yields no sound when trodden by shoeless 
feet; the translucent slides are pushed aside, and 
nothing separates the world within from the world 
without. As we rest motionless upon the mats 
there floats upon the curtained air the soft, deep 
tones of a mighty temple bell; it speaks to us of 
sorrow, of the fleeting world, and bids us compose 
ourselves for quiet contemplation. Slowly the 
curtain rises before our eyes, but hangs motionless, 
giving a passing glimpse of time and sense and 
this unreal, mysterious, phantom earth. We are 
resting in the dwelling of a priest, a low, one- 
storied cottage ; its tiny rooms are partitioned by 
opaque screens, sliding in polished grooves; its 
fine-grained wood ceiling is upheld by polished 
wooden posts, and on the floor are clean white 



72 Japanese Life 

mats. In the alcove at the farther end hangs a 
verse of poetry and on the shelf beside it rests a 
vase with a branch of a flowering tree; beyond 
the polished veranda is a quiet garden, stones 
and walks and trees and flowers arranged to lead 
the mind to sacred thought. 

Going out through the garden by a rustic gate 
into the green lane, with high, thick hedge on 
either side and towering pines above and dripping 
ferns in sheltered nooks or clinging to decaying 
walls of stone, we see, back amid the trees, the 
deep red of the temple walls and the long sweep 
of its great tiled roof. Within a heavy gateway 
is a gravelled court with rows of great lanterns, 
made of bronze and stone, mortuary monuments, 
and queer, misshapen pines peep over a narrow 
wall. An elaborately carved gateway, the posts 
enormous dragons, gives entrance to a smaller 
court beyond, where is the temple, decorated in 
gilt and lacquer, with flowers and leaves and birds 
and beasts minutely carved. Within the temple 
are shrines and images and brocaded hangings 
and smoking incense and deep-toned drums and 
silver bells and shaven priests and worshippers. 
We wait until the prayers are said, and after 
the chanting is ended and the worshippers are 
gone and the missals restored to their lacquered 
boxes we still rest and wait, recalling the long, 
strange history embodied in the ceremony we 
have seen and in the building in which we rest. 
Talking to the priest, he asked us: 



Buddhism 73 



" Do you believe in the divinity of Christ? " 

" Most assuredly I do." 

" Ah, of course, you are quite correct, He is 
God." 

" So then you agree with me and are a Christ- 
ain?" 

* ' Of course not, and so, therefore, Jesus is not 
God." 

" Oh, I understand you perfectly; everything 
is in our thought and as we think it ; and Jesus is 
and is not divine, as you believe or as I. In the 
fullest sense the world is my idea and exists only 
in my thought." 

* 'I see you have studied our philosophy and I 
am pleased at so good an interpretation." 

" But it seems to me there is one difficulty: if 
everything is as we think it, we have no test of 
truth, and things at the same time actually are 
and are not. Your belief is self-destructive, for 
surely I may deny it as you affirm it." 

" Self- destructive — of course it is; so is all rea- 
son and all logic; that is my contention, there is 
no absolute test of truth and no proof of reason- 
ing. If you have gone so far as to see this truth, 
you may very well become a Buddhist." 

Heaven and hell and Amida and his bound- 
less pity, and Gautama and his noble eightfold 
path, exist only in believing thought, — that is the 
esoteric teaching of the Great Vehicle ; while for 
the common man there are ho-ben, pious fictions, 
parables told as truth and left unexplained, lead- 



74 Japanese Life 

ing men by hopes and fears to do right. Thus 
Buddhism is a religion for the masses and an 
idealistic philosophy for the initiated few. 

The earnest men among the priests seek attain- 
ment, some of them by contemplation, with long- 
continued austerities and innumerable rites; some 
of them by attempts to understand their system, 
striving to reduce its contradictions to harmony 
and its confusions to order. Some are teachers 
of the young, though this vocation has been 
given up with the introduction of the new 
educational system; others are preachers to the 
people, and few of them are practical helpers of 
their fellow-men. The idlers and the immoral 
are in the vast majority, and people in general 
hold them in slight esteem. But Buddhism in 
Japan has also felt the new life and is slowly 
undergoing a transformation, to what end no one 
is bold enough to prophesy. 

The strength of the Buddhist faith in Japan has 
been not in ethics but in aesthetics — it gave a new 
charm to life as it brought the Continental civilisa- 
tion with the arts, and also an artistic atmosphere; 
it takes reality away, putting moonlight for the 
bright, hot sun ; it adds the thought of a mysteri- 
ous world to come with hopes and fears; it builds 
temples and displays a curious paraphernalia; it 
has grace and gentleness, and appeals to contem- 
plation and repose; it ministers to a certain ele- 
ment in our common humanity. 

The common people, as we have seen, never 



Buddhism 75 

understood its dogmas, but they worshipped in 
its temples as at Shinto shrines. The same indis- 
criminating worship of the marvellous continues 
in our age — the simple country people have been 
known to stop before the first house built in Euro- 
pean style which they have seen, bow their heads, 
clap their hands in prayer, offering, as to shrines, 
the fortieth part of a cent, and pass on. And 
they come in groups into Christian churches with 
the same acts of reverence. As they do not 
understand the symbols before their eyes, there 
remains for them chiefly — as ever when symbols 
take the place of thought — a crude idolatry. 
Doubtless something of the teaching has pene- 
trated their minds — a belief in a future life of re- 
wards and punishments and a mild faith in the 
efficacy of certain rites. 

As Buddhism has incorporated the ancient 
Shinto with itself, so, in the belief of the people, 
there remain also superstitions more ancient than 
either of these religions — hypnotic trances, mind- 
reading, second sight, magic, charms, possession 
by demons, by foxes, by badgers — traditions of 
strange, uncanny beasts, and odd survivals of prim- 
itive beliefs long since disowned. But, through 
some inherent virtue, these superstitions are not 
taken seriously enough to affect the prevailing 
contentment and do not influence life greatly ex- 
cepting for a few abnormally constituted individ- 
uals. The emotional character of the Japanese 
shows itself in the formation from time to time 



76 Japanese Life 

of new sects and religions, variously compounded 
from Shinto, Buddhist, and Confucian sources, 
with, in the latest, some traces of Christian in- 
fluence. The sects flourish for a time, attracting 
multitudes of followers, and then disappear as 
speedily and more silently than the}' came. 

In the ancient world heaven and earth were not 
widely separated, nor have the religious and the 
secular been held distinct by the people. There 
has been no such conception formed as that of 
mediaeval Christendom, of a supernatural sphere 
let down out of heaven on our common earth. 
Indeed, the very distinction between mind and 
matter is not clear, for, from one point of view the 
mind is itself material and, from another, matter is 
of the mind. So, too, with the religious and the 
secular, it depends upon our attitude, for natural 
and supernatural are not distinct nor opposite, 
but, after all, only varying aspects of the same 
great facts. None the less, the supernatural has 
been used in Japan, as elsewhere, by unscrupulous 
priests as means for impressing the imagination 
of the common people. 

The first great victory of the Buddhist faith 
over the masses was won when an ingenious priest 
in the ninth century A.d. declared that the ancient 
gods and heroes were incarnations of Buddha, and 
from that day the priests have been skilful in the 
invention of parables and wonders for the instruc- 
tion of the ignorant. But such means, however 
efficacious for their immediate purpose, are full 



Buddhism 77 

of dangers; and so the Buddhists themselves dis- 
covered, for ultimately the educated men of the 
Empire broke with the faith and formed a new 
religion in the form of a rational philosophy. 

As we have stated, Buddhism made conquest 
of Japan when it compromised with Shinto, and 
swallowed it. The plain temples of the native 
faith were filled with the elaborate utensils of the 
new cult, and the native gods were adopted as in- 
carnations of the Indian saint. But with the 
downfall of the Tokugawa House an attempt was 
made to reinstate Shinto in its simplicity. So the 
shrines were emptied of images and stripped of 
ornaments, for the Shinto temple is simply the 
ancient cottage slightly improved. It is small, 
with thatched roof, and a tiny veranda on the 
four sides. Within is only a mirror, but neither 
image, nor picture, nor ornament. And the doc- 
trine is as empty as the shrine: there is none. 
Different deities are worshipped in different locali- 
ties and at different times, and there are archaic 
rites, with simple offerings of grains and grave 
obeisances. The priests neither preach nor cele- 
brate sacraments, nor are instructed in theology, 
nor are guides in morals. They are not really 
priests, but laymen, who lead in the sacred rites 
and repeat the hymns. 

Essentially it is the worship of the marvellous, 
so one finds a shrine wherever there is a wonder, 
a strange tree or stone, a waterfall, a cave, a high 
mountain peak. And it is associated with the 



78 Japanese Life 

mysteries of existence, with the processes of na- 
ture, with death, and even with the simple life at 
home. But it has no teaching, being simply the 
expression of reverence. Thus there have been 
debates as to whether the rites are really worship 
or only the natural expression the people feel 
in the presence of the great and wonderful. So 
the Government would have it, since it has taken 
Shinto for its rites and requires participation from 
officials in the ceremonies, though religious lib- 
erty is decreed in the Constitution. 

In the palace the ceremony is very simple. At 
dawn boughs of a sacred tree are laid before the 
shrines, and sticks of incense are prepared. Then, 
after offerings of cloth and grains, the Emperor 
enters, takes a bough, waves it, bows his head, 
lights a stick of incense, repeats a prayer, and re- 
tires. Essentially the service is the same for all, 
and many take part in it as a mere custom, with- 
out meaning and without denying other beliefs. 

As undogmatic Buddhism has given a certain 
complexion to life, making common a belief in a 
future state of rewards and punishments, so has 
Shinto become associated with the divinity of the 
State, and its rites the expression of patriotism. 
Possibly it is not less powerful, in that it has no 
doctrines to be doubted and no laws to be violated, 
but is purely emotional — the most primitive form 
of the religious instinct surviving among civilised 
peoples. It can seek no converts, and its votaries 
do not try to understand its meaning. Its legends 



Buddhism 



79 



may be taken for fairy tales — or forgotten — its 
deities may be recognised as the forces of nature 
or as the spirits of ancestors — and participation in 
its rites may be explained as simple conformity 
to immemorial custom, and yet its essential spirit 
remains — an unreasoning wonder and reverence in 
the presence of the marvels of heaven and earth 
and man. 




CHAPTER VII 

CONFUCIANISM : THE RKUGION OF EDUCATED 

MEN 

THE Renaissance in the seventeenth century- 
separated still more widely the gentry and 
the common people, for the samurai, adding letters 
to arms, made his superiority more unapproach- 
able. The merchant, farmer, and artisan studied 
just enough to meet the simple requirements of 
their daily task and did not trouble themselves 
with literature but, to the samurai, letters became 
a lifelong pursuit. The mastery of the ideographs 
was an unending task, and to this were added phi- 
losophy, history, and ethics. In their own way 
many men were highly accomplished and, as no 
high duty laid upon them the teaching of their 
countrymen, to the pride of birth they joined the 
pride of scholarship. Their learning was of the 
old-fashioned sort, with tendencies to pedantry, and 
pedantic many of them became, talking an idiom 
more removed from common speech than was ever 
Johnsonese. Language, purpose, modes of life 
and thought, social position, separating them from 

80 



Confucianism 81 

their countrymen, only one other difference was 
possible, a difference of religion, and this came 
in time. It is true that the Tokugawa family 
was friendly to the Buddhists, the priests were 
befriended, the temples endowed, and the Christ- 
ians extirpated. Yet soon Buddhism ceased to 
be the teacher of the nation. With peace came a 
revival of learning, and another great wave of for- 
eign influence rolled across the people. This time 
it was the modern Chinese philosophy and ethics. 
Again the higher classes yielded and the lower re- 
sisted. Confucianism came to rule the intelligence 
of the nation and Buddhism became the religion 
of the lowly, relegated to the position it had given 
Shinto a thousand years before. 

It was another Confucianism, not the ancient 
ally of Buddhism. It aimed no longer chiefly at 
polity, but sought to explain the deep problems 
of existence. It had become a philosophy, a re- 
ligion, and its alliance with Buddhism and Taoism 
had given place to bitter antipathy and contempt. 

It was in the eleventh century of our era that 
the new philosophy arose in China, when a group 
of schoolmen arose dissatisfied with the earlier 
unsystematic exposition of the Confucian ethics. 
They transformed the group of aphorisms and 
precepts into an ontological philosophy. As the 
schoolmen of Europe mingled elements drawn 
from Grecian and Oriental philosophy with the 
teaching of Christ and the apostles, so did these 
of China construct their system of heterogeneous 

6 



82 Japanese Life 

material, Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist. The 
last two, Buddhism and Taoism, were vehemently 
rejected as heretical, though the indebtedness to 
their mysticism, metaphysics, and cosmology was 
none the less real. As the school philosophy ruled 
Kuropean thought for centuries and the school 
theology was the medium through which the 
teaching of Christ was dimly seen, so did scho- 
lasticism rule in the Far East, becoming the 
orthodox philosophy and the orthodox interpre- 
tation of the words of Confucius, To disregard 
this scholasticism and to seek to understand the 
thought of the East from the texts of Confucius 
and Mencius is as if we should ignore the whole 
development of philosophy and theology in Europe 
and consider the synoptic gospels as having satis- 
fied the West for eighteen hundred years. 

This philosophy became authoritative in China 
and, in spite of protests and dissent, still main- 
tains its ancient place. It only is orthodox. In 
Japan, too, it was adopted as authoritative and all 
other teaching was forbidden. The ages of Bud- 
dhist faith came to an end and intelligent men 
accepted the pantheistic doctrine which called 
itself by the name of China's ancient sage. 

The problem of philosophy was to find the 
changeless in the midst of change. The im- 
permanence of all things is the first of Buddhist 
truths, and as Confucius stood by the flowing 
river he, too, exclaimed: "All is like that. Day 
or night it ceases not! " 



Confucianism 83 

Wind and sunshine, form and life, the matter 
and structure of the world itself, all pass away. 
The inner world, too, thought, feeling, love, hate, 
ambitions, hopes, our conscious selves, all are as 
the clouds which form and disappear. Push in- 
vestigation never so far, ask how the worlds were 
made from that which does not appear, and to the 
farthest limit there is constant change. From 
chaos to cosmos and back to cosmos again, in 
never-ending circles is no abiding-place, but only 
transformations endless, with no place, or time, or 
thing, or being apart from it. 

Does Buddhism then rightly teach that the 
world is all a deception, a mirage ? Are sorrow 
and joy, truth and falsehood, good and evil in- 
separably joined, and is it the beginning of wis- 
dom to learn that all is a dream, " without a 
world to dream of or a soul to dream ' ' ? 

No, Buddhism is wrong. All does not pass 
away. From the beginning, from the limitless 
which preceded the ultimate limit, in all changes 
there has remained unchanged a " Way," a 
law, a truth, an order. It abides eternal, It 
does not become, it is. It is the true substance 
of all. To know it is wisdom, and to obey it 
virtue. 

There is cosmic order, though all things change. 
Change itself submits to law. K ven in chaos there 
is law, and so when the full time has come chaos 
turns slowly to cosmos, as cosmos, when its time 
has run away, returns to formlessness. 



84 Japanese Life 

Logically law precedes change, for change itself 
follows law, but in time both are for ever. There 
is no change without law, and no law save in 
change. Neither precedes or outlasts the other. 
Law is immanent and never is by or of itself, for 
it is not an abstract, empty thought, but always 
is embodied — the two, the changing and the un- 
changeable, for ever knit in one. 

There is no creation but an unending process. 
When the classics say that the Supreme Lord be- 
stows, appoints, protects, creates, the meaning is 
simply that the unchanging law is thus and so. 
Yet is the universe instinct with life. Not matter 
but spirit is representative of the macrocosm. 
Whatever belongs to man's nature belongs to it. 
He is the " little heaven and earth," and so from 
him w r e come to know the * ' great heaven and 
earth." 

The macrocosm responds to the microcosm. 
When man is righteous he communes with the 
good powers of nature, and they bless him, but 
when he does ill he is in sympathy with all evil 
forces, and they come to him. Throughout the 
universe is a golden thread of life and it vibrates 
to the same note in all its parts. 

Law is righteousness and righteousness is law. 
The law is one in many manifestations: benevo- 
lence, uprightness, wisdom, sincerity, propriety, 
represent it. Law shows itself in the order of the 
heavens, in the ceaseless change of sun and moon 
and stars, unceasing in their changes but unfail- 



Confucianism 85 

ing in their courses. So should the virtues show 
in the emotions, acts, and words of men. 

Philosophy perceives this law, while unthinking 
men see only change. So it was with Buddha. 
He saw only the outer and failed to understand 
the inner, unchanging law. His system is popu- 
lar with the crowd, but is a hindrance to virtue. 
For ethics applies philosophy to conduct. It sees 
the true, permanent element, and values that 
and seeks to realise the law in life. Based on a 
true philosophy, it knows that the essence of all 
things is one, that is, law, so that man should 
make righteousness supreme. Then is he at 
peace. Then is he in harmony with the eternal 
verities. Then has he long life though his days 
in the flesh are few. 

As righteousness is order, evil is disorder. It 
comes from the ceaseless change w r hereby the 
eternal order is at times obscured. Earthquakes, 
destructive tempests, unseasonable frosts, rain, 
drought, obscure the decreed order and bring 
their host of evils. So in the State do mobs and 
tumults and crimes destroy harmony and peace, 
and in the individual unruly lusts bring man 
below the level of the brutes. 

Let every one follow the law of his being. Let 
each man stand firm in the station in w r hich he 
was born. Let the State hold fast to its order 
established by the Sages ; the key to philosophy, 
ethics, polity, is in their books. Intuitively the 
Sage knows the truth, and perfectly he practises 



86 Japanese Life 

it. For other men's sake he has written down 
the " Way." So study is for us a necessity like 
food; but true learning is humble, and perceives 
the true self. Not knowing the true self, we are 
blind of heart, study we never so much. Without 
true discernment study is like Sekko's love for 
dragons. He painted them and spent days and 
nights in admiration of his work. A living dragon 
thought, " If Sekko so fancies painted dragons 
how great will be his love for me ! ' ' but when he 
put his head through Sekko' s window the artist 
was panic-struck and fled. 

We are to examine self as we read, testing the 
doctrine of obedience. Thus shall we compre- 
hend. When by study, obedience, and reflection 
we learn our oneness with unchanging law and 
when we find in all things the same eternal truth 
we attain true life and immortality. We are 
content, though we die at night. The essential 
nature is not destroyed, but at death returns to 
the primal element as a drop of water to the sea. 
At one with the imperishable principles, man in 
his law outlasts the universe. He who has learned 
this knows the truth and rests in perfect peace. 

This philosophy proclaimed itself the absolute 
truth. It is the eternal " Way " of Heaven and 
Earth. Should Sages again appear they would 
recognise it as their own. It could accept no 
compromise but in ontology, and ethics asked im- 
plicit faith and obedience. 

Natural^ it excited opposition, but it triumphed 



Confucianism 87 

over its foes. Buddhism indeed made slight re- 
sistance and was pushed ignominiously aside. 
I^ater, in the eighteenth century, Shinto revived 
and attacked philosophy as false and foreign. 
But the chief foes were of its own household — 
rival exponents of the Confucian ethics. 

There were pure idealists, who found all truth 
in their own minds and rejected the distinction of 
change and law. There were positivists, who cast 
aside ontology and were content with phenomena. 
And there were critics, who charged the scholas- 
tics with corrupting the truth and raised the cry, 
"Back to Confucius ! " But against them all, the 
orthodox system held its own and remained the 
accepted doctrine until the advent of modern 
science in our day. Then at last the restrictions 
were removed and it appeared that hostile criti- 
cism had shaken faith. Few indeed held to the 
true ontological creed. The hostile attack had 
done its work. It had prepared for new philoso- 
phy and for new science the Spirit of Old Japan. 

This philosophy is the mature expression of the 
Chinese mind. It sufficiently explains familiar 
facts; it satisfies the philosophic mind as it looks 
beneath phenomena to the unchanging reality; it 
affords a sure basis for the traditional polity and 
ethics. It contains no prophecy and has no vision 
of a new Jerusalem descending out of heaven. 
That which hath been ever shall be, and to pre- 
serve the unchanging order is its chief end. There 



88 Japanese Life 

shall be a new heaven and a new earth in a new 
cosmic cycle, but they can only repeat the same 
history and do over again what we do now. The 
soul's one faith is this: though confusion seem to 
endure for a night, order will reappear with dawn. 
But the Buddhist pessimism is shaken off, that 
ultimate despair of the world and life. If life is 
not loved, neither is it hated. All is good in its 
time. " There is a time to be born and a time to 
die; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to 
weep and a time to laugh; a time to love and 
a time to hate; a time of war and a time of peace 
— to everything a season and a time to every pur- 
pose ' ' ; and all in its season and time are good. 
So, too, all out of time and season are bad. The 
fundamental law of nature, of the State, and of 
the soul is one. 

It is illustrated most clearly in the State, where 
we see it writ large, and whence we may learn, 
in Plato's mode, what is that which is " good." 
Confucius and Mencius and their chief expositors 
have been statesmen. In the Far Kast the State 
rests on ethics and the moralist is the ruler. The 
Empire is a pan theocracy, with the eternal laws 
of nature as set down by the Sages as constitution 
and supreme source of right. On this law rests 
the throne of the king. His ministers are teachers 
in ethics, and an examination in moral philosophy 
is the test for office. Public and private morality 
are one, and the personal virtue of the ruler is the 
one condition of the welfare of the body politic. 



Confucianism 89 

In the Golden Age in China long ago, the Sage 
was on the throne, the " superior man" was min- 
ister, and all in authority were wise, rank being 
given by worthiness. There was no evil man, 
though the common folk were ignorant, for each 
was in his rightful place. The Sage ruled by do- 
ing naught. Iyike the eternal law, it was enough 
that he exist. As men see his righteousness and 
come in contact with his truth they naturally 
obey. As the wind moves the blades of grass in- 
numerable in the broad field, not all at once but 
on from blade to blade, so his influence at last 
touches and bows each unit in his vast domain. 

But never since the Golden Age has there been 
a Sage upon the throne. The divine order has not 
obtained. At best there has been only an approxi- 
mation. Sometimes it has been wholly lost when 
an unworthy ruler has taken the Empire for his 
own and used it for the gratification of his lusts. 
Such a ruler is no king and against him rebellion 
is a duty. For the people are the " Heaven " of 
the king, the reason for his being. Duty is his 
divine right. If he disregard it, ipso facto , he is 
no king. Never was a king driven from his 
throne, but many a " fellow " has been stripped 
of royal robes. 

So first of all the king must rule himself. 
Laws, even the inspired philosophy, are nothing 
if the ruler does not embody truth. " Teach by 
example and men follow; by words, and they ac- 
cuse/ ' "Government is by the man. With 



go Japanese Life 

him it is complete: when he is destroyed it 
ceases." So when thieves abounded Confucius 
said to the ruler, ' * If you do not covet they will 
not steal, though theft be praised." That a ruler 
may cause strife to cease, he himself must be un- 
selfish and cease to strive. Therefore when evils 
come the ruler examines self. He is a link join- 
ing man and nature. Calamities on earth and 
portents in the sky are signals of his unworthi- 
ness. 

As the king obeys Heaven, so do the officials 
obey the king. Were the Sage on the throne, ab- 
solute obedience and silent submission would be 
required; but besides the Sage no man is without 
error and sin. The minister who stands next his 
lord must advise, must, if need be, remonstrate, 
though such remonstrance be more dangerous 
than the position of the foremost spear in battle. 
But the minister must not count life dear. 

The noble respects his ministers and entrusts 
the administration to them; he nourishes his 
men-at-arms: he cherishes the people. The 
man-at-arms is single-hearted in loyalty to the 
lord and country; the peasant obeys the laws, 
pays his tax, and diligently follows his trade. 
The highest in the State is nearest Heaven, he is 
most completely under law and every action is by 
rule. Only the common folk have liberty, for in- 
dustry and peace only may be asked of them. The 
nation is a family, and the differences in rank are 
decreed by Heaven. What matters the position 



Confucianism 91 

any one may occupy ? Let each stand firm in his 
lot. To every one are duties to superior and in- 
ferior, and before Heaven there is no difference. 

When the ' ' fellow " is on the throne he selects 
his ministers by his fancies. Philosophers are in 
obscurity. The officials are pedants bound fast 
by rules and usages, or profligates mercenary and 
merciless. The people are uneasy, avaricious, 
fond of gross pleasure, full of crime, and, at last, 
rebellious. Change has possession of the State 
and order disappears. 

The family is the State in miniature and has its 
decreed order, whose preservation is virtue. The 
first duty is to parents: to them we are in- 
debted for life and all things, and no service can 
be excessive. They educate the child and lead 
him in the " Way " lest the family be destroyed. 
The wife must reverence and obey her husband's 
parents and himself; and he is to love her, but 
not overmuch or to the neglect of parents. The 
younger brother reverences and obeys the elder 
and the elder befriends the younger. 

The individual is of importance only as he ful- 
fils the duty of his place. To forsake that place 
is crime. The wise man cares not for the things 
which change; only the law, the order which 
abides has value in his eyes. He is pure when 
ruled by law; he is outcast when ruled by lust. 
The common man cannot discern the truth, and 
his safety is in being under some wise man's rule. 
But the wise man discerns. He knows himself 



92 Japanese Life 

and perceives his unity with the everlasting law. 
His immortality is to lose himself in that shining 
sea. 

With modifications Japan accepted this phi- 
losophy. It made no theoretical amendments, 
and even its hostile criticism was reproduction 
of Chinese attacks, excepting as Shinto revived. 
Native ethics and polity there were none. Indi- 
vidual, State, and family were formed upon the 
Chinese model when peace gave leisure for theory 
to form. The Chinese scholastic philosophy, the 
Confucian ethics, the polity of Mencius, ruled 
thought and life. Yet there were unconscious 
amendment and adaptation. 

In China the civil mandarins were supreme, and 
the arts and offices of war despised, but in Japan 
arms and the pen were as the two wings of a bird. 
Yet was the sword in greater honour. In China 
the Emperor ruled, but in Japan he was in strict 
retirement, while the Shogun ruled and the whole 
organisation was military. In China the central 
rule was all, but in Japan virile feudalism held 
the government of the Shogun in check. In China 
each subject was equal to every other before the 
law; in Japan rank was hereditary and decreed by 
Heaven. In China filial obedience held first place; 
in Japan, feudal loyalty. China was the embodi- 
ment of peace; Japan a highly organised camp. 
In China war has ever been an episode; in Japan 
peace was an armed truce. Royalty, obedience, 
self-sacrifice, the virtues of the soldier, these were 



Confucianism 93 

the highest manifestations of the Spirit of Old 
Japan. 

A writer of the seventeenth century, Kyuso 
Muro, already quoted, tells us how the deeper 
problems of life and death were solved by a phi- 
losopher of unshaken faith. 

" Returning from exercise, some young men 
stopped one day and their teacher said to them: 
'As your profession is that of arms constant drill 
is necessary; but good fortune is more important 
than skill since without it skill avails not. Mori 
Musashi no Kami was called the demon of Mu- 
sashi, so skilful and strong was he; but at Naga- 
kute he was killed instantly by a bullet, and what 
benefit was there in his skill and courage ? Skill 
rests on fortune; so study this most earnestly. 
Your instructors teach you arms, but they know 
not the study of fortune. Such as I can teach 
you that! ' 

" Then one replied: * I do not understand this 
study of martial fortune. Surely it is beyond 
man's control. Could it be acquired by study all 
the world would learn! ' He shook his head: 
* Yes, there is such study.' * Tell us of it then,' 
the students said; and he went on: 

11 ' Consider, all of you! Whence is fortune? 
From Heaven! Even the world says, " Fortune 
is in Heaven.' ' So then there is no resource save 
prayer to Heaven. I^et us then ask: What does 
Heaven hate and what does Heaven love? It 
loves benevolence and hates malevolence. It loves 



94 Japanese Life 

truth and hates untruth. Its heart is this, that 
it forms all things and unceasingly begets men. 
Even when in autumn and winter it seems the 
spirit of death it is not so, but the root, the spirit 
of birth is gaining strength. So does the Book 
of Changes declare: " Birth is called change/ ' and 
again: " The great virtue of Heaven and Earth is 
called birth.' ' That which in Heaven begets all 
things in man is called love. So doubt not that 
Heaven loves benevolence and hates its opposite, 

" ' So, too, with truth. For countless ages sun 
and moon and stars constantly revolve and we 
make calendars without mistake. Nothing is 
more certain ! It is the very truth of the universe! 
When man leaves all else and is humane and true 
he accords with Heaven, it surely cherishes and 
embraces him. But with mere temporary virtue 
comes no such revelation. We must always obey, 
being ever benevolent and injuring no one, being 
ever true and deceiving no one. As the days and 
months pass such truth appeals to Heaven, and 
Heaven helps so that even in battle we meet no 
misfortune nor strike against bullet or spear. 
This is the study of martial fortune. Do not 
think it an old man's foolish talk.' 

" After a little some one said: ' I am much im- 
pressed with this new study of martial fortune, but 
still have my doubts. Do not humane and true 
men meet misfortune while the wicked prosper ? 
Yen Hui, the beloved disciple of Confucius, died 
young and poor while Che, the robber, who ate 



Confucianism 95 

men, was long-lived and rich. How do you ex- 
plain such facts ? ' The teacher replied: 

" 'The good are happy and the wicked miser- 
able. This is the certainly determined and just 
law. But happiness and misery are not thus fore- 
ordained. They depend on circumstances. The 
Sages speak of the true law and not of the unde- 
termined circumstances. If we would live long 
we abstain from drink and lust that the body may 
be strong. If in service we seek promotion we 
are diligent in duty. But some men who are 
careful of their health die young and some careless 
men live long. Yet surely, care is not in vain! So, 
too, some diligent men through misfortune gain 
no promotion and negligent men by chance have 
been advanced. Yet surely, diligence is not in 
vain! Were we to think care of the body useless 
we should spend days and nights in drinking and 
lust until at last we should be diseased and die. 
And were we to think diligence in vain we so fre- 
quently should neglect our duty that punishment 
and degradation would be ours. Care of the body 
is the " way " of long life, as is diligence of pro- 
motion. These laws are unchangeable. Again 
consider! When we make plans, do we leave all 
to chance or determine first the principles of our 
action ? Of course the latter, and then we do not 
repent even though we are unfortunate. We can- 
not arrange for chance. But to leave all to chance 
and fail, that leads to repentance. Sin is the 
source of pain and righteousness of happiness. 



96 Japanese Life 

This is the settled law. The teaching of the 
Sages and the conduct of superior men is de- 
termined by principles and the result is left to 
Heaven. Still, we do not obey in the hope of 
happiness, nor do we forbear to sin from fear. 
Not with this meaning did Confucius and Mencius 
teach that happiness is in virtue and pain in sin. 
But the " Way " is the law of man. It is said: 
"The 'Way' of Heaven blesses virtue and 
curses sin." That is intended for the ignorant 
multitude. Yet it is not like the Buddhist para- 
bles, for it is the determined truth. 

"'Yen Hui died young, Che lived long, for 
Heaven's decree was not yet formed. But now 
as we study the decree: Yen Hui indeed lived 
poverty-stricken and in obscurity, but his name 
lasts thousands of years with the sun and moon. 
Che had a thousand followers and walked in 
pride, but when he died his name perished before 
his body was cold while his shame lasts an hun- 
dred generations, the memorial of many evil deeds. 
Was, then, Yen Hui' s reward from Heaven small, 
and Che's great? " And there is a deeper truth: 
the wise man does not labour for himself at all. 
If he can help reveal the " Way," though never 
so little, even when dead he lives, his bones do not 
decay. He does not seek himself at all. 

" Matsunaga thus sings of the morning-glory: 

" 'The morning-glory of an hour, 
Differs not in heart from the pine of a thousand years.' 



Confucianism 97 

What profundity! Many have sung of the morn- 
ing-glory, of its short life, of autumn loneliness 
and the vanity of the world. 

" ' After a thousand years the pine decays; 

The flower has its glory in blooming for a day.' 

That is pretty, but it merely makes bloom and 
decay one. The ignorant think it profound, but 
it is very superficial, like Buddhism and Taoism. 
Matsunaga's verse has other meaning, has it not ? 
I think it means, ' He who in the morning hears 
the "Way" may die content at night.' To 
blossom early, wait for the rising sun, and die, 
such is the morning-glory's nature received from 
Heaven. It does not forget its own nature and 
envy the pine its thousand years. So every morn- 
ing splendidly it blooms, waits for the rising sun, 
and dies. Thus it fulfils its destiny. How can 
we despise this truth the flower reveals? The 
pine differs not, but we learn the lesson best from 
the short-lived flower. The pine's heart is not of 
a thousand years nor the morning-glory's of an 
hour, but only that they may fulfil their destiny. 
" The glory of the thousand years, the evanes- 
cence of the single hour, are not in pine or flower 
but in our thought. So is it with unfeeling things, 
but man has feeling and is the head of all. Yet 
is he deceived by things and does not attain to 
this unless he knows the ' Way.' To know the 
* Way ' is not the mysterious contemplation of 
which Buddhism speaks. The * Way ' is so ad- 



98 Japanese Life 

justed to all things that even miserable men and 
women may know and do it. And only as we 
truly know it can we truly do it. Otherwise even 
with practice we do not know, and even in doing 
it we find no profit. Though we are in the 
' Way ' until death we do not understand. 
Truly to know and act is to be like fish in water 
and bird in forest. 

" Reason should be our life. Never should we 
separate from it. While we live we obey, and 
* Way ' and body together come to death. Long 
shall we be at peace. To live a day is to obey a 
day, and then to die; to live a year is to obey a 
year and then to die. If thus in the morning we 
hear and die at night there is no regret. So the 
morning-glory lives a day, blooms wholly as it 
had received, and without resentment dies. How 
greatly differ the thousand years of the pine in 
length, yet both fulfil their destiny and both are 
equally content. Thus 

" 'The morning-glory of an hour, 
Differs not in heart from the pine of a thousand years.' 

As Matsunaga shows his aspirations in his verse 
so I in imitation: 

" ' By the truth received from Heaven and Karth, 
The morning-glory blooms and fades.' 

" • Regret not what you see : 

Decay and bloom alike are morning-glory's truth.' 

" ' Hurting not, lusting not, 

This is the morning-glory's heart, 
Not different from the pine's.' 



Confucianism 99 

The verses are wretched as you see. But never 
mind their form, take their truth.'' 

Man is never alone. There are streams of ten- 
dency which make for righteousness and for evil. 
They respond to him, and as his heart is so do 
gods or devils commune with him. Only the true 
in heart can know God. 

" In the oldest commentary on Confucius' s his- 
tory it is said, * God is pure intelligence and jus- 
tice.' Now all know that God is just, but do not 
know that he is intelligent. But there is no such 
intelligence elsewhere as God's. Man hears by 
the ear, and where the ear is not he hears not, 
though never so quick to hear; and man sees 
with his eyes, and where they are not he sees not, 
though never so quick to see; and with his heart 
man thinks, and the swiftest thought takes time. 
But God uses neither ear nor eye, nor does he 
pass over in thought. Directly he feels, and 
directly does he respond. This then we should 
know is not two or three but just the virtue re- 
ceived from the one truth. Thus, in heaven and 
earth is a being of quickest eye and ear, separated 
from no time or place, now in this manner, 
communicating instantaneously, embodied in all 
things, filling the universe. Having, of course, 
neither form nor voice it is not seen nor heard by 
men. When there is truth it feels, and when it 
feels it responds. When there is no truth it feels 
not, and when it feels not there is no response. 
Responding at once it is ; not responding it 



LofCi 



ioo Japanese Life 

naturally is not. Is not this the Divinity of 
heaven and earth ? So the Doctrine of the Mean 
says: * Looked for it cannot be seen, listened to it 
cannot be heard. It enters into all things! There 
is nothing without it.' 

" It is like Priest Saigyo's verse at the Shrines 
in Ise: 

" * Though not knowing what it is, 
Grateful tears he weeps.* 

" Are not his tears from his perception of truth ? 
Before the shrine he stands, single-hearted, direct, 
with truth; and to his truth God also comes and 
they commune, and so it is he weeps. 

" As the reflection in the clear water answers to 
the moon, and together moon and pool increase 
the light, so if continually in the one truth they 
are dissolved we cannot distinguish God and man, 
even as sky and water, water and sky unite in 
one. ' Everywhere, everywhere, on the right He 
seems and on the left.' This is the revealing of 
God, the truth not to be concealed. Think not 
God is distant, but seek Him in the heart, for the 
heart is the House of God. Where there is no ob- 
stacle of lust, of one spirit with the God of heaven 
and earth there is this communion. But except 
by this communion there is not such a thing. 
Saigyo did not weep before he went to the shrine 
and by this we know God came. 

" And now for the application. Examine your- 
selves, make the truth of the heart the founda- 



Confucianism 101 

tion, increase in learning, and at last you will 
attain. Then you will know the truth of what I 
speak. 

' * As thus he spoke all were silent, impressed 
by the great thoughts of the aged philosopher. 
They, too, shed grateful tears like the priest be- 
fore the shrine. " 

The word translated "God" is without indica- 
tion of number, and our translation gives too mono- 
theistic an impression . Perhaps it would be better 
to substitute " divinities " or "divinity," for there 
is probably no implication of personality. 

Thus, too, can we explain devils and things of 
evil. The gods are the good powers of heaven 
and earth and are the normal working of the spir- 
itual universe. But the universe knows change, 
and there arise unexpected winds, heat, cold, and 
storms. So are there naturally evil spirits which 
respond to evil men. When we feel with pure 
spirit the pure spirit responds to us, but when we 
feel with an evil spirit the devils respond. And 
there is no place in heaven or earth where these 
spirits good and evil are not. But when our 
own spirits are strong the evil affects us not, but 
when we are weak and lustful then through our 
undetermined and sinful feelings the evil spirits 
find a way and affright us; with portents, dreams, 
and lying wonders, they lure us to death. But 
evil melts before the righteous man like ice before 
the sun. 

For the philosopher death has no alarms, and the 



102 Japanese Life 

soul content with life and submissive to destiny 
calmly awaits its approach : 

"Swiftly the days and months pass by. Day 
by day increases the disease, old age, and labour 
is of no avail. It is the seventy-fifth year, and 
not so long had the teacher hoped to live with 
the billows of old age rolling on. He was para- 
lysed too, so that hand and foot were not easily 
moved, and with difficulty could he get up or 
down. For three years the spring beauty of the 
garden had not been seen, but the voice of the 
bird from the tree-top came to his bed awakening 
him from his lingering dreams. Patiently did he 
remember the past as the perfume of the plum 
blossoms visited his pillow. 

4 ' How blessed was he then, that from his youth 
he had seen through the windows of philosophy 
the value of the passing years; that he had fol- 
lowed Shu-Hi and sought the manners of the 
Sages; that he had admired true literary style 
and had learned to walk haltingly the * Way/ 
What consolation was this for his aged wakeful- 
ness! Through so many months and years well 
had he considered the passing, changing world, 
with its alternating adversity and prosperity, its 
bloom and decay. Are they all dreams and 
visions, * the clouds that float above the earth ' ? 
Fortune and misfortune are twisted together like 
the strands of a rope. 

"Among all only the ' Way ' of the Sages 
stands with Heaven and Karth. Past and present 



Confucianism 103 

it only changes not. Men should wonder at it 
and praise. But the world knows it not. Men 
are in darkness as to righteousness, though wise 
in gain and lust. The ' Way ' is forsaken and 
customs deteriorate. Alas! alas! but my low 
rank and feeble powers could not reform the cus- 
toms or restore the doctrine; as well might a gnat 
move a tree or one dip out the ocean with a shell. 
Yet is it our duty as scholars to grieve over the 
world and reform the people. We cannot give 
this task to others. Why should aged teachers 
and men who are accounted scholars desire false 
doctrines, mix them with the truth, and thus 
transform the * Way ' of righteousness and virtue? 
' ' I cannot agree to that. They work and argue, 
please the vulgar, and go with the times. Deplor- 
able ! As has been said of old, — ' A corrupt 
learning that flatters the world. ' L,et it be so ! 
Let customs change! I alone will follow the 
* Way ' of benevolence and righteousness nor lose 
the pattern I have learned ! This is the sign of 
the scholar who honours the ' Way.' In the 
New Year when men bless themselves with good 
wishes for a thousand worlds, I will set my heart 
on the ' Way ' of the five virtues only and will 
change not. This I think the rightful cause for 
congratulations. So I write: 

" 'This spring too I go unchanged, 
Five times more than seventy seeking the * Way.' 

" This year I have been busy, from spring to 



io4 



Japanese Life 



autumn, collecting and writing my various talks 
with my disciples. I finished it in the autumn, 
and though it is as worthless as the refuse left by 
fishermen, yet if transmitted to our company it 
may be one-ten-thousandth help to those who 
study themselves. So at the end I wrote my 
New Year's verse, ending yet beginning, and 
thus reveal an endless heart.' ' 




CHAPTER VIII 

PHILOSOPHY FOR THE PKOPLK 

THE Confucian literature in Japan so far in- 
structed the mass of the people as to provide 
summaries of moral rules for them. But these 
moral rules could exist in harmony with Bud- 
dhism. And as in China for centuries and in 
Japan for a thousand years the Chinese ethics 
knew no quarrel with the religion of the Buddha, 
so even after the educated men in Japan had given 
up Buddhism it still retained its full power over 
the lower classes and could incorporate the Con- 
fucian ethics with itself. 

One effort, long continued, was made to win 
the people not merely to the Confucian ethics, but 
to the foreign philosophy. Toward the close of 
the eighteenth century a school of popular preach- 
ers expounded the rudiments of the Chinese sys- 
tem to the people. They made such concessions 
to Buddhism as they thought the case demanded, 
but sought to substitute their system for the peo- 
ple's faith. They continued in a succession until 
the middle of the nineteenth century, but their 

105 



106 Japanese Life 

failure was complete. They made no lasting im- 
pression upon the nation's mind. The Chinese 
philosophy remained the exclusive possession of 
the higher classes. 

Volumes of sermons by the preachers of this 
philosophy may be bought in the bookstalls of 
Tokyo, though the living voice has long since 
ceased. The following discourse is from a volume 
printed in 1838 and deals with the fundamental 
truths and shows how the philosophy of the 
schools was adapted to the needs of common life. 
Such sermons give the spirit of the people's life 
better than more formal treatises. 

" Text: i The Master says, — Is it not a pleasure 
to practise what we learn ? ' 

"As you all know, this text is from the begin- 
ning of the first book of the Analects. It is the 
teaching of the great Sage, Confucius. I am un- 
learned and cannot expound the Analects, but 
shall talk simply to these ladies and children about 
the ' Way.' ' The Master says/ means, Confucius 
says, and what is his meaning in this word, 
* learn'? What are we to learn? It is man's 
' Way ' of course, the ' Way ' that belongs to 
every man, even to the Son of Heaven and the 
Shogwi, with all reverence be it said, to us com- 
mon folk, and to the very outcast and beggars. 
For every one is by nature endowed with five 
virtues, humanity, righteousness, propriety, sin- 
cerity, and wisdom; and from these come nat- 
urally our duties in five relations — obedience to 



Philosophy for the People 107 

parents, loyalty to master, conjugal harmony, 
brotherly affection, and kindness to strangers. 
The text refers to learning these things, for they 
constitute man's * Way.' 

" Nothing is without its ( Way ' and each thing 
follows straight its path: the cock crows every 
morning and tells the hour; the dog guards the 
gate, the cat catches the rat, the horse and ox bear 
burdens for man— all do their duty. Was ever 
horse or ox ashamed to meet its companion, or do 
they run away to hide, or are cat or dog sentenced 
to death by their peers ? Why, consider even in- 
animate things ! The willow is always green, the 
flower coloured, the pine crooked, the cedar 
straight, the radish long, and the turnip short, 
never a mistake or change at all ! 

" Alas ! alas ! Only that sad thing, man ! He 
is born the ' Head of all things, ' but as he does 
not know what constitutes him ' Head,' there are 
many men who are not true men. As the comic 
poet says: 

" ' Should ye become beasts it would not soil your face, 
O guild of nature's lords.' 

For man is endowed with the splendid power of 
choice and so he leaves his ' Way,' and wanders 
in forbidden paths. How dangerous! with all 
our strength we must learn man's i Way." 1 You 
know the ancient verse: 

" * Many men. Amid the men no man. 
Man, be a man ! Man, make men ! ' 



io8 Japanese Life 



This endowment with the five virtues and duties 
is like the arrangement of five fingers on the 
hand. Look at your fingers and see: The index 
finger is for benevolence and filial obedience, the 
third finger for righteousness and loyalty, the 
middle finger for propriety and conjugal harmony, 
the little finger for wisdom and brotherly affec- 
tion, the thumb foi sincerity and fidelity to com- 
panions. With the five you can grasp what you 
will. How wonderful ! * Flowers, bright-coloured 
leaves, gold and silver in the world are given, — 
put forth your strength and take.' How im- 
portant that we put forth our strength! Mencius 
says, * If self-examination shows truth, then all 
the world endows me. No pleasure excels this.* 
All the world is mine, a precious treasure, but if I 
am a little selfish, if I seek my own happiness, I 
break the fingers off. Disobedience breaks the 
first, disloyalty the third, conjugal discord the 
second, strife with brothers the fourth, falseness 
toward others the thumb, and my hand is useless. 
There ! It is a club ! it cannot take or hold a 
thing. My young hearers, are your fingers 
broken off? 

' 'In prayer we join the fingers of both hands, re- 
presenting the active and passive principles, or in 
Shinto the primeval oneness of heaven and earth, 
of harmony between self and others. But if only 
the hands are joined what answer can we expect 
from gods or Buddhas ? Feelings and actions, too, 
must be in harmony, for if they are pushed out 



Philosophy for the People 109 

like clubs to the deities, though we repeat prayers 
as enchanters repeat their charms, the god looks 
the other way. 

" * No answer to thy prayer? 
Silence an answer is. 
Thy praying heart lacks truth.' 

Here is a story in point. 

" An old woman who very much wished to go to 
heaven once lived among the farmers. Every day 
she made an offering to her Buddha and called the 
rice * sacred, 1 and all things used in its prepara- 
tion she esteemed the property of Buddha and used 
them for nothing else — 'sacred pot/ 'sacred 
ladle/ 'sacred cloth.' So, too, all the family 
used the same adjective when they mentioned 
anything belonging to the Buddha, ' sacred 
flowers,' ' sacred censer,' even ' sacred dish- 
cloth.' The reason for it all was the old woman's 
desire to go to paradise after death, there to feast 
upon an hundred kinds of fruit and never to 
labour more. She was wholly selfish. Yet the 
founder of her sect was not wholly to blame, as he 
had hoped to wheedle men into just living now. 
But the old woman never thought of that and in- 
terpreted the Buddhist saying, ' The world is a 
transient, borrowed lodging,' to mean that she 
might please herself, even by disobedience, dis- 
loyalty, and injustice. Was she not a fool? 'A 
borrowed world ! Yet use it not in vain ! This 
borrowed world only is thine.' The seed of 



no Japanese Life 

heaven and hell is all sown in this life and so this 
' borrowed * world is of the last importance to us 
all. But this woman in her selfishness thinks it 
is transient ! I can please myself ! So in her 
accounts are many things that do not agree. She 
will not pay her taxes until compelled, but would 
pay her temple dues with her skin ! She can't 
fast on the anniversary of her parents' death, 'for 
her health's sake,' but is not hurt by fasting on 
the ' sacred ' day when the founder of her re- 
ligion died. And so with all the family — they 
scold each other with loud, shrill voices, and 
almost the same instant turn to their Buddha and 
pray with the gentlest tones! How selfishness 
seems to make a fool of Buddha! He only grieves 
as such a club is thrust out before him. He never 
supposed that a desire for heaven would lead to 
such misconduct nor that prayer should become 
pretext for sin. Such conduct causes tears of 
blood to fall. Are not such folk wholly astray ? 

"This old woman never washed the rice for 
Buddha with her hands, but used two clubs, and 
a man, asking her, ' Why do you wash the rice in 
such inconvenient fashion ? ' was told, ' Because 
it is for the Buddha, and my hands are not clean 
enough. Some particle of dirt remains, whatever 
care I take.' So he asked again, l How do you 
pray?' 'Why, with clasped hands, of course.' 
' That, too, is wrong/ he said; ' you should use 
two clubs!' 'You wretch! what blasphemy! ' 
she cried. But the real blasphemy is prayer with 



Philosophy for the People 1 1 1 

the fingers joined while thoughts and actions are 
like the clubs. 

" Of old, Buddha and the inventors of religions 
pitied men and tried to coax them to virtue, just 
as the seller of sweets blows a flute and sings a 
song and the peddler spins a top — all for the sake 
of selling their wares. 

" Swallowing the device of the priest, 
Well satisfied they dance their prayers.' 

"When w 7 e pray for cleansing and holiness, as in 
Shinto, we desire to be rid of self-seeking and 
wilfulness. We do not offer anything to the gods. 
And when we pray, ' Save, eternal Buddha! ' we 
do not aid him, for, pure and holy, he does not need 
our help, but we desire to be changed into his like- 
ness. Otherwise our form of prayer is like using 
the clubs, and man must learn this * Way ' by 
the teaching of the Sages, and so Confucius says, 
I^eam.' 

"The word ' practice' means imitate. When 
we hear the precious words of the Sages we take 
them as our model. Or, if that is too hard for us 
stupid folk, we can find models near at hand and 
imitate the obedient and loyal men we see. As 
Confucius said, ' If I see a wise man I desire to 
be like him; if a foolish man I examine myself.* 
And again, ' In the actions of every three men 
there is a teacher for me. Seeing the right I fol- 
low it, and seeing the evil I mend it.' So, seeing 
the conduct of other men, I mend my own. 



ii2 Japanese Life 

"But some of you thoughtlessly hear this word 
'imitate/ and the boy thinks of imitating the 
jester, and the woman of imitating the harlot or 
dancer, and the clerk of imitating the actor's hair, 
and so evil comes of it. Then, too, the true mid- 
dle way is hard to copy. To save from such error 
I teach this ' Way.' Pray consider it! 

"All the time a clear-sighted, honoured teacher 
is close at hand. Do not go peering about for 
it. It is called the ' true self/ has not eyes 
nor ears nor mouth, and nothing hinders it. It 
has been much praised in India and China from 
the earliest time. To it we will go at once and 
I will lead you by the hand. 

" If we listen, as to gossip, carelessly, we shall 
not understand, for we learn this lesson by testing 
it, as we learn the taste of water by tasting. What 
is the * Way ' of the sparrow ? Chu-chu. Of the 
crow? Ka-ka. Of the willow? Greenness. 
Of the flower? Colour. Of man? Obedience, 
loyalty, sincerity — as any one can say who has the 
cant words by heart. But it is a great mistake to 
suppose this is the sort of thing that is to be heard 
merely by the ears. To repeat the correct words 
as volubly as the old-clothes man talks and yet 
not to know the ' Way ' is to be like the club, so 
L,aotze said, ' Destroying great religions, love and 
righteousness spring up/ 

' ' To speak correctly, Ka-ka is the crow, green- 
ness the willow, colour the flower, and the virtues 
man. As Mencius says: ' Man does all things 



Philosophy for the People 113 

by benevolence and righteousness : he does not do 
benevolence and righteousness.' ' Before heaven 
and earth were formed the chick sang in its shell. ' 
This great teacher had no beginning but was be- 
fore heaven and earth. It is with us the livelong 
day and says, ' Do this: ' ' Do that: ' ' That is 
wrong: ' ' Do not do it! ' With all our strength 
we must imitate it, it is the living teacher. I be- 
seech you, follow it. 

" We master nothing by copying it once or 
twice, we must grow like it. The very children 
write over and over again until at last they write 
just like the copy. So with man's ' Way' : as we 
copy the great teacher, the 'true self/ at last our 
acts become like our model and this is the mean- 
ing of the text. Just as in music, we wish to 
sound chin tsun ten but it comes out chin chin 
ten, but, as we persevere, at last we can play what 
we will and gain a skill that makes us forget our 
food in joy. Still more when I follow the ' Way ' 
of man, the essential element of manhood, do I 
attain the highest happiness. So our text says, 
'Is it not a pleasure to practice what we learn ? ' 

" But this saying of the Sage is beyond us com- 
mon folks, and yet if we enter this gate and learn 
only the outer edge of the true self, that which 
has seemed apart from us — Shinto, Buddha, and 
the Sage — we learn at once is all our own. They 
are not wholly apart from us. So we lose our sel- 
fishness and grow ashamed of our old thoughts 
and feelings. We had thought ourselves wise and 

8 



ii4 Japanese Life 

prudent and now the horns of the selfish demon 
draw slowly in, and the skin, a thousand thick, 
thins down to one. And in like degree we enter 
heaven with joy and thankfulness unspeakable, 
unconscious how our hands move and our feet 
dance. As the poet sings, 

" * So long as Buddha lives 
Whate'er I see or hear 
Is source of thankfulness.' 

"Now for a little stop, stretching out your 
elbows proudly, and study the shell of this body. 
What a wonderful being it is! On the head we 
wear nothing, and just there is the cushion of hair 
that protects us against injury should anything 
fall upon it. And the eye is a wonder! It takes in 
light for the whole body and is withdrawn a little 
and protected from dust by the eyelid which opens 
and shuts itself; and if dust gets in, the eyelash 
sweeps it out. The eyebrows, like the eaves of a 
warehouse, carry away the perspiration. The nose 
cannot shut, so it opens downwards that no wind 
may enter, and the roof above protects it. Were 
it not for that we should have to walk backwards 
when the wind blows hard, and might fall into a 
puddle or strike against a cart or stone. So it is 
by the grace of this roof, which in a lifetime needs 
no repairs, that we walk at ease. 

" The mouth takes in our food. How wisely it 
is made, expanding, contracting, to admit just the 
load ! And inside are the teeth, those officials 



Philosophy for the People 115 

who roughly handle the various things and with 
the tongue let nothing hard, or hurtful escape. 
And in old age out come the teeth, lest food too 
strong for the stomach should be taken. 

" The ears spread like a wine-seller's funnel to 
receive the five sounds, and at the joints of our 
limbs the skin is a little loose, and toes and fingers 
are protected at the ends by nails, like bits of hard- 
ware. You must ask the doctor to tell you of the 
clock -like mechanism of the body, of its five and 
six viscera. All is formed by Heaven from the 
five elements. Could there be a more skilful 
workman ? We sleep, we wake, we walk, we 
speak, we think at will. We can never under- 
stand the marvel, study as we may. 

* ' See how we go astray. We think, This body 
is mine; I can do as I please; and so we come to 
think, I am wise and smart. ' If he goes there 
I move here: if he comes here I go there ' : from 
morning to night the elbows are pushed out like 
a chess-player's, we scowl as we consider w T hat we 
shall do, and the will is like a wrestler's. How 
guihy! How pitiable! Heaven is too kind and 
gives us our tenement free of rent, and we presume 
on the kindness and think it our own. At last we 
dun the owner! No possible happiness can come 
from that. I '11 illustrate by a story: 

u In a certain place was a servant named Cho- 
kichi, a most wonderful fool. There were many 
fools, but this one was extraordinary, with a re- 
markable talent for forgetting. One day his mis- 



n6 Japanese Life 

tress said to him, ' Here, Chokichi; to-day is an 
anniversary and the priest will soon come and 
we must have an offering for the household deities. 
Hurry to Nihom-bashi and buy five things, — car- 
rot, dock, mountain potato, dried mushroom, and 
lotus root/ She gave him five cents and he an- 
swered 'Yes/ tucked up his skirt, and started 
fast as he could run. 

"Soon he meets neighbour Kichimatsu, who 
asks, ' Where do you go so fast ? ' 'To Nihom 
bashi to buy some things.' ' What shall you 
buy?' 'Why, I don't know.' His mistress's 
commission was forgotten and he remembered 
only to run. Was he not a fool ? 

' ' But possibly we should not laugh too loudly 
at him. Of course not in this congregation, but 
back in the country are many men not unlike 
Chokichi, men who forget the most pressing 
duties. They know very well what others should 
do, — well, let each examine self. 

' ' Here is Mr. Hachibei, who says that every be- 
ing is born with a special commission from Heaven. 
' Indeed! What were horse and ox born for?' 
' Oh, I know that! To help man by bearing bur- 
dens.' 'And what was the cock born for?' 
'To tell the dawn.' 'And the dog?' 'To 
guard the gate.' 'And the cat?' 'To catch 
the rat.' Whatever I ask, if it is only something 
yonder, he knows it well. Now, Mr. Hachibei, 
what were you born for ? He scratches his head, 
' Why was I born ? I do not know. To eat rice 



Philosophy for the People 1 1 7 

and grumble.' That is the sort of reply he 
makes. Trufy he is of Chokichi' s guild. It can- 
not be that man only came into the world to grow 
old eating rice ! He differs from cat and dog and 
is the ' head of all things/ but that does not 
mean that he is aimless. 

" When Chokichi reached Nihom-bashi he wan- 
dered aimlessly about, his money in hand. He 
saw cookies in a baker's and went in and ate 
some — ten. Then he drank small beer and spent 
what he had left in a low eating-house. But still 
he was not satisfied, and went home grumbling 
because he could not buy cooked eel and duck. 

" Meanwhile master and mistress were hot as 
fire. * Chokichi, what are you about, where are 
the things we sent you for ? ' Chokichi, surprised, 
replied, ' What things? I have not bought any- 
thing.' The master angrily: * What did you do 
with the money ? ' ' Oh, I used that to buy 
things to eat and I want some more." Mistress 
and master amazed, ' You are talking in your 
sleep! We did not tell you to buy things to eat, 
but to get carrot and dock — the five things for the 
ceremony. You spent the money for things to 
eat? You are crazy.' They scold and pound 
the mats. No doubt of his being a fool. He 
looks up surprised, and says, ' Do you want car- 
rot and dock ? I have just been to Nihom-bashi, 
and it would have been such a good time to have 
bought them! ' A monstrous fool! In the wide 
world none would support him for an hour. Hit 



n8 Japanese Life 

him with the fist and drive him out! There is no 
help for it. 

"But this is not merely an amusing story, it is a 
parable. If we hear of folly we examine self. So 
if any thinks, ' I am not like Chokichi,' let him 
examine self. 

"At birth we receive from Heaven not five cents 
with which to buy things, but a body with five 
members and five senses and a heart endowed 
with five virtues. And we are to fulfil the five 
duties, this is our commission, the things we are 
to buy. But we forget virtues and duties, and, 
rising up and lying down, complain: ' I want this! 
I want that ! This won' t do ! That ' s not enough ! 
and use our mouths and ears buying and eating 
— Chokichi himself! Surely, man was not born 
so aimlessly. And even in these times of peace, 
when with diligence one need not want anything, 
men do not imagine even in their dreams that 
gratitude is due. 'That's not enough! This 
won't do! ' It is blasphemy. 

"When the * true self disappears the selfish 
demon rules. The family is in factions, father 
and son, husband and wife are enemies. They 
glare at each other and ill-treat each other. The 
lord, too, abuses his servants and they watch his 
errors. It is a living hell! And when a pause 
comes they study questions of no profit: ' Are 
the times good or bad ? ' 'Is the world wide 
or narrow?' 'Is it the world's beginning or 
end?' It is the merest folly! So grumbled 



Philosophy for the People 119 

Chokichi, because his mistress's money was too 
little and he could not have eel and duck. Such 
grumblers dun Heaven for rent, and in return are 
ordered to quit the premises. They run off bank- 
rupt, men and women drowning themselves to- 
gether or having their heads cut off. So they get 
a blow or two from Heaven's fist and are turned 
out of heaven, the wretches! 

"It is written, 'All things are cultivated in a 
series, therefore they must not hurt each other.' 
We know the true self and wish to forsake our 
selfish buying and eating and to follow the true 
' Way.' We desire to do the pressing commis- 
sion of Heaven and to be obedient, loyal, and kind. 
Thus shall we live in joy. 

"But some of my young hearers think, c That is 
old-fashioned and not for these times ' ; and 
others say, ' No. It is true and I mean to fol- 
low the " Way." But just now I am too busy 
"and really have not time.' All these belong to 
Chokichi' s guild and soon Heaven's fist will be on 
their heads and then what sorrow and woes will 
they know — a fearful doom ! Learn over and over 
again this ' Way.' 

" In ancient times Buddha, Confucius, and the 
founders of the sects forsook home and rank and 
denied themselves pleasant food and clothes, and 
with wasting flesh helped others. We, too, desire 
to make it the business of life to live and die true 
men. That is our prayer to Heaven, to the gods 
and Buddha, the true prayer for the bountiful 



120 



Japanese Life 



harvest of the five kinds of grain and for peace in 
earth and heaven. 

"My sermon has been so long, from the begin- 
ning to end, that now we '11 stop and take a 
pipe." 




CHAPTER IX 

THE WAY OF THE "SAMURAl" 

THE Confucian philosophy in China is the 
guide of statesmen whose ideal is peace: in 
Japan it became the creed of soldiers — the same 
precepts bearing different meanings as the way 
of the Sages became the way of the samurai. 
The philosophers we have quoted are not the 
advocates of learned leisure or of philosophic re- 
tirement, but their lectures are filled with admira- 
tion for the "strenuous life.' ' Devotion unto death 
is the chief of virtues for them — and only as we 
understand their ideals can we know the life of 
the people. Confucianism gave these scholars 
a completed system which made righteousness 
ultimate and supreme; their instincts interpreted 
and the history of the past illustrated the teaching 
— as Buddhism had incorporated the ancient gods 
in its own beliefs, so did the Chinese philosophy 
in Japan adopt as its own the heroes of the feudal 
wars. In both instances the native element trans- 
formed the foreign system. 

An effeminate Court, intriguing nobles, de- 

121 



122 Japanese Life 

bauched emperors, and ambitious soldiers sup- 
plied material for the tragedy of the Dark Ages. 
Fighting was the business of life and the strong- 
est ruled. Confusion threatened the nation, but 
protected by the sea against all foreign foes it 
survived its perils. 

In the uninteresting story of the feudal strife 
the Spirit of Old Japan stood revealed more clearly 
than in the indolent ages of effeminate peace. 
When the strongest and most ambitious rule, hero 
worship becomes the nation's cult, and such was 
the real faith of the Japanese, It fitted well his 
nature and inherited beliefs. The marvellous in 
man is the chief of nature's wonders; and desperate 
enterprise, the courage that bears the forlorn hope 
to victory, the strength that triumphs in the teeth 
of fate itself, the fire that flashes from the eyes of 
the leader and compels multitudes to give up life, 
not knowing why they die, — these are the quali- 
ties to be worshipped and deemed worthy of every 
sacrifice. The sword was the symbol of this 
Spirit of Old Japan, the weapon of offensive war- 
fare and of self-destruction when all was lost, and 
against others or against self, the emblem of 
whole-hearted loyalty. 

Nothing of pity stopped the warrior and no 
thought of self. Thus he was taught: " Be not a 
samurai through the wearing of two swords, but, 
day and night, see that you bring no reproach 
on the name. Ever cross your threshold and 
pass through your gate as men who never shall 



The Way of the " Samurai ' 123 

return again. Thus shall you be ready for every 
adventure you may meet." 

IyOyalty unto death was the treasure of great 
price; it summed up the law of righteousness. 
" To the samurai righteousness is first of all, then 
life, then silver and gold. These last are of value, 
but some put them in place of righteousness. To 
the samurai life itself is as dirt compared with 
righteousness! " 

Righteousness was exemplified by men innum- 
erable, and the writers on ethics praise the heroes 
of the faith, interpreting their deeds in accordance 
with the accepted philosophy. The following in- 
stances are from the writings of Kyuso Muro, one 
of the standard authorities. 

"In the period Genko-Kemmu (1331-1335) many 
samurai were faithful unto death. I admire with 
tears a retainer of Ho-jo Takatoku named Ando- 
zaimon Shoshu, the uncle of Nitta, Yoshisada's 
wife. When Kamakura was taken by Nitta, his 
wife secretly sent a letter to her uncle, who was 
in arms against her husband. His soldiers were 
killed, himself was wounded, and he was retreat- 
ing when news came that Takatoku had burned 
his castle and fled to Toshoji. Andozaimon 
asked if many had killed themselves at the burning 
of the castle and was told, ' Not one.* 4 Shame- 
ful!' he replied; ' there we will die.' So with 
an hundred men he went on to the castle and wept 
as he beheld the smoking ruins. Just then came 
the letter from his niece. He opened it and read, 



i24 Japanese Life 

— * Since Kamakura is destroyed come to me. 
I '11 obtain your pardon with my life.' Very 
angrily he spoke, ' I have been favoured by my 
lord, as all know. Shall I be so shameless as to 
follow Yoshisada now! His wife wants to help 
her uncle; but if Yoshisada knows the duty of a 
samurai he will put a stop to such attempts. He 
did not send it or agree to it. But if he did, if he 
meant to test me, she should not have permitted 
such an attempt to destroy my name. He and 
his wife alike are worthy of contempt! ' With 
grief and anger there before the messenger, he 
wrapped the letter around his sword and slew 
himself. 

" Ah, what a man was that! How pure his 
purpose! Who can excel him ? 

" But in recent years, in the period Tenshb (a.d. 
i 5 73- i 590) a retainer of Takeda Katsuyori named 
Komiyama Naizen is most to be admired. He 
was the favourite of his master, until at last they 
were separated by a quarrel, and Naizen, con- 
demned through false witnesses, was dismissed 
from office. When the troops of Oda Nobunaga 
attacked the province of Kai, Katsuyori was de- 
feated and fled with forty-two followers to Ten- 
mokuzan. When Naizen heard of the disaster he 
wished to help and met Katsuyori on his retreat. 
All the false witnesses, all with whom Naizen had 
quarrelled, had fled, deserting their lord. Sorrow- 
fully spoke Naizen: ' My lord dismissed me and 
now, should I die for my country it will be a 



The Way of the " Samurai" 125 

reflection on his judgment; but if I do not die I 
shall injure the fidelity of the samurai. Though 
I hurt his fame I must not forsake virtue,' and 
he died with the forty-two faithful ones. As all 
the others had fled and these forty-two samurai 
alone held faithful to their lord without a thought 
of disobedience, they all illustrate samurai fidelity . 
But Naizen was pre-eminent among them, for he 
had been unj ustly condemned and came expressly 
that he might die. 

" When Katsuyori and all his party had been 
destroyed, Ieyasu much admired the fidelity of 
Naizen and regretted that his worship should 
cease, as he had no children. So Ieyasu em- 
ployed Naizen 's younger brother, and before the 
battle at Odawara gave him a high command, 
speaking at length of Naizen' s fidelity: ' Naizen 
was a model samurai, and though his brother 
is so young I have given him this command in 
token of my admiration of such loyalty/ Truly 
that was praise after death, and the reward of 
loyalty." 

Women, too, may show true righteousness: 
" When in Kaga I heard a man remark: 'All 
sins, great and small, may be forgiven on repent- 
ance and no scars remain, except two; the flight 
of a samurai from the post where he should die, 
and theft. These leave a lifelong wound which 
never heals. All born as samurai, men and 
women, are taught from childhood that fidelity 
must never be forgotten.' Thereupon I con- 



126 Japanese Life 

tinued : * Of course, and woman is ever taught 
that submission is her chief duty, and if in unex- 
pected strait her weak heart forsakes fidelity, all 
other virtues will not atone. In Japan and China 
alike have been women whose virtue has exceeded 
that of man.' 

" The wife of Nagoka Itchu no Kami Tadaoki 
was the daughter of Akechi Mitsuhide, the re- 
tainer of Oda Nobunaga, who killed both his lord 
and his lord's son. In turn he was destroyed by 
Hideyoshi. Later Tadaoki, at the time of Seki- 
ga-hara, went to join leyasu in the east. During 
his absence Ishida Mitsunari sent troops to Tada- 
oki' s castle to seize his wife, but she exclaimed, 
* I '11 not disgrace my husband's house through 
my desire for life,' and killed herself before the 
enemy got in. Excited by her virtue, the two or 
three samurai who were with her fired the man- 
sion and slew themselves, and her women took 
hold of hands, jumped into the fire, and died. 
Even yet shall we praise that deed! The rebel 
Mitsuhide had such a child, scarcely equalled in 
China or Japan! As the proverb says: * The 
general has no seed,' so I '11 add, — The heroic 
woman has no seed. 

" But a guest remarked: ' Not so; not having 
seed is still to have it. Fidelity makes the nature 
of benevolence and righteousness its seed. Then 
without place or ancestor, without race, without 
the distinction of high or low, male or female, 
without family connection, good children come 




Hi 



The Way of the " Samurai" 127 

from evil parents, and evil children from the 
good.' 

"The teacher was greatly pleased and said: 
1 True! I had thought only of man's nature, not 
of Heaven's. Such virtue of women and the vul- 
gar must be praised as Heaven's nature. Thus 
will the samurai be excited to virtue and virtuous 
hearts will be produced.' 

1 ' L,et me speak of Shidzuka, the uneducated 
concubine of Minamoto Yoshitsune. She was a 
famous dancer in Ky5to, talented, beautiful, and 
beloved of Yoshitsune. When he fled she went 
with him to Mt. Yoshino and then returned. 
Called to Kamakura and examined she replied: 
' 1 know so far as Mt. Yoshino. No further.' 
She lingered there until the birth of Yoshitsune' s 
child. Yoritomo desired to see her dance and 
commanded her presence. She refused repeatedly 
but was forced to comply at last. Yoritomo 
expected a song and dance for his feast, but she 
sang : 

" ' To and fro like the reel* 

Would that old times might return ! 

I long for the trace of the man 

Who entered Yoshino's snow-white peak.' 

Yoritomo cried out in anger: ' You sing of that 
rebel Yoshitsune instead of celebrating the present 
time! It is a crime! ' But at the request of his 
wife he forgave the girl. She cared not, but re- 
turned straight to Kyoto and lived in seclusion. 



128 Japanese Life 

Yoritomo's great power bent trees and grass, but 
she feared it not. Her heart was wholly set on 
Yoshitsune and she excelled the samurai who 
died with him." 

The righteous samurai will not serve himself by- 
taking a new master. 

' * Pure-hearted samurai cease not to appear. In 
Kwan-ei-Sho-ho (a.d. 1624-1647) was a branch 
temple of Tentokuji, in Shiba, Edo, where always 
without intermission prayers were said. One day, 
at evening, as the priest went out of the temple 
gate he observed a man with a bundle. He 
seemed a traveller and not a common man. When 
the priest returned from his errand there was the 
man still in the gateway. Thinking that strange, 
the priest asked, ' Who are you ? Come in and 
rest.' ' I am listening to the temple prayers,' 
the man replied, * for I like to hear them said. 
On your invitation I '11 go in and have a cup of 
tea.' So in they went, and the priest inquired 
whence he came and whither he journeyed. 

" The man replied, ' From Oshu. I once had a 
friend in Yedo, but cannot find him. So I must 
find some place.' And the priest rejoined, * Stay 
here to-night, it is so late.' So he stayed, and 
the next day the priest asked him to remain until 
he should find some occupation. He thanked the 
priest and remained. It soon appeared that he 
was an educated man, and the head of Tentokuji 
called him and helped him and gave him various 
tasks about the temple, which were all diligently 



The Way of the "Samurai" 129 

performed. By and by he was made a superin- 
tendent of many priests and became a person of 
importance. 

" At that time it happened that a nobleman who 
had retired from active life was making researches 
into the history of the past and sought scholarly 
samurai to help him, paying them good salaries. 
The people of the temple told him of this man, 
Yuge, and highly recommended him as especially 
informed about the past. Yuge thanked the 
head of the temple and said, ' I do not intend to 
enter service again, but your kindness entitles you 
to know my past.' So he told the priest his real 
name and that he had been a retainer of Gamo 
Ujisato, and continued: 'Since Gamo was de- 
stroyed I have no heart for service under any other 
and purposed to spend my life as a beggar. With 
no design on my part I have become a recipient of 
the blessings of the temple, and now my one de- 
sire is to repay what I have received. But I find 
no means to do it.' Then he showed the testi- 
monial Gamo had given him for his services in 
the battle of Kunohe, and elsewhere, and the let- 
ters he had received from many nobles offering 
him employment. ( All are useless now,' he said, 
and put them in the fire. 

" So he lived long in the temple. And in the 
year a.d. 1657, when Tentokuji was burned, 
Yuge said: ' Permit me to help/ and worked on 
after the chief priest and all the other priests had 
fled, saving the images, furniture, and books. 



i3° Japanese Life 

When all were safe he sent off the men who had 
been helping him. 

" Afterwards in the ruins of the main hall was 
found the body of a man, sitting with clasped 
hands like a priest. It was Yuge, and all the 
temple folk wept and grieved for him. But he 
had no desire to abide in the temple; he had 
merely waited for an opportunity to return the 
favours he had received. At the fire he found 
the opportunity he sought, and after working to 
the end purposely perished in the flames. How 
pure and holy was his heart! " 

The minister may show righteousness in time 
of peace equal to the soldier's in time of war. 

' ' The foremost place in the battle seems a 
place of difficulty, but is not, and to remonstrate 
with one's lord seems easy, but it is not. L,ord 
and servant praise the foremost spear, but I 
do not hear them praising him who loyally 
reproves. 

" In Kwan-ri-Kan-ei (1624- 1643) the former 
lord of Echizen, Io no Kami, had a minister named 
Sugita Iki. He had risen from the ranks by his 
merits. It was his business to provide the funds 
for his lord's very expensive attendance in Yedo. 
Not fearing his lord's wrath, he was ever ready to 
reprove. And once it happened when Io no Kami 
was in Echizen that he went hawking, and on his 
return his ministers went forth to meet him. He 
was unusually happy and said, ' The young men 
have never done better. If they always work as 



The Way of the " Samurai " 131 

well they are certain of employment by the Sho- 
gun in case of war. Rejoice with me! ' So all 
congratulated him except Sugita alone. He said 
nothing, remaining at the foot of the line. Io no 
Kami waited a while wonderingly, and then said, 
'What do you think?' And Sugita replied, 
1 With due respect, yet are your remarks a cause 
for grief. When the samurai went with you 
their thought was this,— If we do not please 
him he may kill us ; and they took final fare- 
well of wife and child. So I have heard. If 
they thus hate their lord they will be useless in 
battle. Unless you know this it is foolish to rely 
on them.' 

" Io no Kami scowled, and his sword-bearer said 
to Sugita, ' Go, please! ' But Sugita scowled at 
him and said, 'My task is not to go hawking with 
him and surround monkey or wild boar! Do not 
tell me what is of use! ' So he cast aside his 
short sword, went to Io's side and said: c Kill me! 
It is far better than to live in vain and see your 
downfall! I shall count it a sign of your favour! ' 
So he folded his hands and stretched out his neck 
to the blow. Io went to his apartment without a 
word. And the other ministers said to Sugita: 
1 What you say is true, but have a regard to the 
proper season. It was ill to mar the pleasure of 
his return.' But Sugita replied: ' There is never 
a proper season for remonstrance. I thought it 
fitting to-day. I have risen from the ranks and 
doubtless look at things differently from you. My 



132 Japanese Life 

death is of no consequence/ All listened with 
admiration to his words. 

"Sugita went home and prepared himself for 
hara kiri, awaiting his lord's word. His wife had 
been with him from the time he was in the ranks, 
and to her he said: ' I have a word to leave with 
you. A woman cannot be directly honoured by 
our lord, but as he has honoured me you have 
shared in it. You are no longer the wife of a foot 
soldier but of a minister. You have many serv- 
ants. It is an infinite blessing he has conferred 
on you, is it not? After I am dead, remember 
this great blessing morning and evening and feel 
no hatred to your lord. If in your grief you hate 
him in the least and it appear in words, in the 
depths of Hades I shall know it and be dis- 
pleased.' In constant expectation he waited 
until late at night, when there came a rapping at 
his door. Some one said: ' His lordship has 
business for you. Come to the castle.' 'The 
time has come,' Sugita thought, as he obeyed. 
But Io sent for Sugita to come direct to his bed- 
chamber and said: ' I cannot sleep for thoughts 
of your words to-day. So I have sent for you so 
late at night. I need not speak of my errors. I 
am filled with admiration at your straightforward 
remonstrance.' Therewith he handed Sugita a 
sword as a reward. At this so unexpected event 
Sugita wept as he withdrew." 

The righteous judge gives up his all, when loy- 
alty compels a decision that is wrong: 



The Way of the "Samurai" 133 

" Amano ruled in Suruga and his income was 
thirty thousand koku x of rice. His estates joined 
the Shoguris and one day a man who came from 
the Shoguri s land stole some bamboo and was 
killed by Amano' s three soldiers stationed there 
as guards. 

" The Shoguri s deputy demanded the punish- 
ment of the guards, as they had killed one of the 
people of the Shogun ; but Amano replied: ' To 
kill a thief is no crime. It was done at my com- 
mand, and if there is any guilt it is mine.' 

1 ' On appeal to Yedo an officer was sent to Suruga 
who said to Amano, — 'Even though you are right, 
yet will the authority of the Shogmi be weakened 
if he is not obeyed. Draw lots and kill one of 
the three men.' And Amano replied, ' To that 
argument I must yield, but the strong samurai 
does not consent to remain in peace through the 
slaying of innocent men. I shall give up my 
rank/ So he left his castle and disappeared. 

* ' Iyong after one met an ascetic whom he took to 
be Amano, whether rightly or not we do not know. 
He was a pure-hearted samurai and could neither 
kill his soldier nor disobey his lord. He could 
not remain in the world, so he gave up his thir- 
ty thousand koku and disappeared. That is un- 
paralleled.' ' 

But beggars even may show the same truth: 

1 'Ten years ago on the 17th day of the 12th 

1 A koku is 5.13 bushels. Bstates were measured by 
the number of koku of rice they produced. 



*34 Japanese Life 

month of the year U, Mitsu no to, of the period 
Kybhb (Jan. 12, a.d. 1724) a clerk named Ichijur5, 
in the employment of a merchant of Muromachi, 
Yedo, named Kchigoya Kichibei, lost a purse 
containing thirty ryb 1 as he was returning from 
collecting some accounts. He thought it had been 
stolen, but returned over his route looking for it 
carefully. At last a beggar met him and asked, 
' What have you lost? Is it money?' Ichijuro 
told of his loss and the beggar said that he had 
found the purse and sought its owner. So Ichi- 
juro exactly described its contents, money, papers, 
and all, and the beggar gave it back to him. In 
his joy at the unexpected event Ichijurd offered 
the beggar five ryb, but the beggar would not take 
them. ' It was all gone and you returned it. Do 
take five ryb/' said Ichijuro. But the beggar 
persisted, 4 Had I wanted five ryb I should not 
have returned the thirty. But I did not think it 
mine when I picked it up. I thought that some 
one had lost his master's money and would be in 
trouble. Some men might have kept it, but I 
found it and desired to give it back. Now as I 
have returned it my business is at an end.' And 
off he ran as fast as he could go. But Ichijuro 
took an itchi bu from the purse and followed him 
crying, ' It is cold to-day! Take this for sake 7 

1 A ryb was the standard coin. Its value varied greatly 
at different periods, as the coinage was often debased. A 
silver ryb was worth, say, $1.33, and a gold ryb, $6.50. 
A bu was one-fourth of a ryb, silver. 



The Way of the " Samurai ,: 135 

So the beggar took it and said, * I '11 drink the 
sake. 9 And in answer to a question he said, ' I 
am Hachibei, a beggar of Kurumazenshichi.' 

" When IchijurS went home and told his story 
his master wept in admiration and determined to 
give the beggar the five ryo. So on the following 
morning he sent Ichijuro and his chief clerk to 
Zenshichi, the beggar's master, to ask him to try 
and persuade Hachibei to take the money. But 
Zenshichi said, ' The beggar Hachibei got a bu 
somewhere last night and called his friends to- 
gether and had a feast of fish and sake. He 
drank a great deal himself, and whether it did not 
agree with him, he died this morning.' Ichijuro 
was astonished and asked the man not to send 
the body off or have it buried, but told his 
master, who sent for the corpse and expended 
the five ryo on a funeral. It was certainly won- 
derful that a merchant should thus be affected by 
righteousness. 

" Hachibei was not an ordinary man. Doubt- 
less he entered the beggars' guild because homeless 
and alone. When he had money for a feast for 
his companions he thought it a good end and 
choked himself. Had he been in power he would 
not have used his authority to take things belong- 
ing to another. Some men are samurai in name 
but beggars in heart — that man was called a beg- 
gar but was, in truth, a samurai. 99 

But this identification of righteousness with 
loyalty and self-sacrifice was exaggerated until a 



13 6 Japanese Life 

disregard for one's life could atone for crime, and 
recklessness became the first of virtues. By its 
excess we the more clearly see that true self-sac- 
rifice can be attained only after the sanctity of the 
person, in others and in self, as sacred and of 
God, has been perceived. 

"In Kaga I had a friend, a samurai of low rank. 
While absent in Adzuma with his lord, his son 
Kujuro, fifteen years old, quarrelling with a neigh- 
bour's son of the same age over a game of go % 
lost his self-control, and before he could be seized 
drew his sword and cut the boy down. While the 
wounded boy was under the surgeon's care Ku- 
jur5 was in custody, but he showed no fear, and 
his words and acts were calm beyond his years. 
After some days the boy died and KujurS was 
condemned to hara-kiri. The officer in charge 
gave him a farewell feast the night before he died. 
He calmly wrote to his mother, took ceremonious 
farewell of his keeper and all in the house, and 
then said to the guests: ' I regret to leave you all 
and should like to stay and talk till daybreak; but 
I must not be sleepy when I commit hara-kiri to- 
morrow, so I '11 go to bed at once. Do you stay 
at your ease and drink the wine.' So he went to 
his room and fell asleep, all being filled with ad- 
miration as they heard him snore. On the mor- 
row he arose early, bathed, dressed himself with 
care, made all his preparations with perfect calm- 
ness and then, quiet and composed, killed himself. 
No old, trained, self-possessed sa7nurai could have 



The Way of the " Samurai" 137 

excelled him. No one who saw it could speak of 
it for years without tears. 

" At the beginning of the affair I wrote to his 
father: ' Though Kujuro commit hara-kiri he is 
so calm and collected that there need be no regret. 
Be at peace.* But as Sugimoto read the letter he 
remarked: 'A child often will be brave enough as 
others encourage it before the moxa is applied, 
and yet burst into tears when it feels the heat. My 
child is so young that I cannot be at peace until 
I hear that he has done the deed with bravery.' 
As the proverb says, ' Only such fathers have 
such sons.' I have told you this that Kujuro 
may be remembered. It would be shameful were 
it to be forgotten that so young a boy performed 
such a deed." 

The stories could be multiplied, for they illus- 
trate the unchanging ideal of righteousness. 
Shinto neither inculcated it, nor contained illus- 
trations of it, yet Shinto, with its worship of the 
marvellous and its deification of the wonderful, 
was the true expression of the soul of Old Japan, 
a soul which, come to self-consciousness, found 
disregard of self, devotion of the self to death as 
the supreme sacrifice, and worship of this ethical 
self-sacrifice to be its true religion. 

Yet Shinto again asserts itself. All the devo- 
tion of Old Japan — its loyalty to baron and leader, 
its passionate disregard of life and self, gathers 
around the Emperor. It is a new cult. Repeat- 
edly in the past men rebelled against him, de- 



138 Japanese Life 

posed him, and treated him with contempt. But 
in ottr day he has become the symbol of the nation. 
Around him gathers a dim belief in his divine 
origin and in the present power of the long line of 
his ancestors. All officials join in the Shinto 
rites before the shrines of Emperor and heroes — 
and all investigation which lays bare the facts of 
the remote past is discouraged. A belief in the 
nation embodied in the Kmperor has become the 
people's creed, and a passionate patriotism is their 
religion. As they were in the past so are they to- 
day — but a broader outlook and a higher vision 
have been combined to translate the politics of 
feudal days into the world politics of the twentieth 
century. It is no longer clan against clan, nor 
even West against East, but Japan against Russia 
winning for the divine land its rightful place 
among the foremost nations of the earth. 




CHAPTER X 

THK UFK OF THK " SAMURAI " IN OlyD JAPAN 

ARAI HAKUSEKI has given us a picture of 
the character and the life of the samurai of 
Old Japan. He lived in the middle period of the 
long peace which followed the victories of Toku- 
gawa Ieyasu, while the power of the Shogun was 
still unshaken, and the thought of coming changes 
had not entered the minds of the most progressive 
men. His autobiography was written for his own 
family, in 1716, and it was given to the public 
only in 1890 when a variety of manuscripts by 
the author were printed. It has therefore the 
advantage of being written by a Japanese for 
Japanese, without thought of foreign reader or 
critic, and it gives a picture of life truer than 
may be possible in these more self-conscious 
days, when Japan has adopted a policy and is 
never unmindful that the world watches its suc- 
cess. Arai does not describe Japan for the 
traveller, nor for the student, but he writes when 
his day's work is done with the unconsciousness 
of the man whose environment is unchallenged 

139 



140 Japanese Life 

and whose ideas are the expression of an orthodox 
philosophy. 

He claimed descent from the two most aristo- 
cratic of the princely families, but his grandfather 
had lost his estates and Arai refused to believe the 
stories told of him. Ami's father made his own 
way in life and at Arai's birth was past middle life 
and the trusted adviser of a petty noble. Arai de- 
scribes him as a representative samurai : i ' As I 
remember my father he was very grey, his face 
was square, his forehead high, his eyes large and 
his beard heavy. He was short, large-boned, and 
strongly built. He showed no sign of emotion in 
his voice, nor did he laugh loudly or scold in an 
angry voice. His words were few, his movements 
dignified, and I never saw him surprised or lack- 
ing in self-control. When off duty he cleaned his 
room, hung up some ancient painting, arranged a 
few flowers of the season, and sat still all da}^ or 
sketched flowers. He did not care for coloured 
pictures. When well he would not have his serv- 
ants wait on him at meals. He ate two bowls of 
rice and a variety of other things, weighing them 
that he might not hurt himself by eating too 
much of any one. He did not pick and choose, 
but ate what was set before him, whether he fan- 
cied it or not, weighing the dishes in his hand to 
determine the quantity. He did not order his 
meals, though he insisted upon having the fresh 
food of the four seasons when it was in market, 
and ate it with the family. He was easily affected 



The " Samurai " in Old Japan 14 1 

by wine and merely took the cup in his hand at 
the ceremonies. Tea he much liked. 

"At home he wore carefully washed clothes, no- 
thing soiled even in bed, and when he went out 
his clothes were fine and new, but not extravagant 
nor beyond his rank. He chose carefully the 
decorations for his fans, having his better ones 
decorated by famous artists, and still more particu- 
lar was he as to the ornaments of his sword and 
armour. His life followed a strict and uninter- 
rupted routine: he awoke at four in the morning, 
bathed in cold water and dressed his own hair. 
In very cold weather my mother wished him to 
use hot water for his bath, but he would not, be- 
cause of the trouble to the servants. When he 
was past seventy fire was kept in the foot- warmer 
at night and, as water could be heated there with- 
out trouble to any one, he used it for his morning 
bath. 

" My parents were Buddhists and after their 
bath they put on special garments and worshipped 
the Buddhas, and on the anniversaries of the death 
of their parents they prepared the rice without aid 
from the servants. When they awakened before 
dawn they sat up in bed and silently awaited the 
day, arising as soon as it was light enough for 
them to see. 

" Father's road lay to the north, but he went 
out of the south gate, and turned to the east, re- 
turning he went to the west and entered by the 
north gate. His sandals had iron knobs and he 



142 Japanese Life 

walked with resounding steps, giving notice of his 
approach. All knew his tread and hushed crying 
babies at the sound/ ' 

In this the classical examples were followed: in 
the morning he turned to the east, and in the 
afternoon to the west, for he would not turn his 
back to the sun : he walked with loud steps, that 
he might not be thought to sneak upon any one 
unawares, and his whole conduct indicated a man 
of self-control and self-respect. He knew also the 
nature of his countrymen, as Arai illustrates: 

' ' While still a young man father was put in 
charge of three samurai who were charged with 
murder. He accepted the position on condition 
that the swords of the men were returned to them. 
When this had been done he said to his prisoners: 
' If you escape cut off my head and take it with 
you. I cannot fight three men.' So he took off 
his own sword, wrapped it in a cloth, and put it 
aside. Unarmed he ate and slept with them for 
ten days, when they were acquitted. They then 
told him how they had determined to fight him, 
three unarmed against one armed, but that they 
could do nothing when their swords were returned 
and his made useless. It were better to stand trial 
than for three men armed to attack one without a 
sword." 

Arai briefly describes his mother: " She wrote 
a good hand, composed verses, read many books, 
was a skilful player of go and on the musical 
instruments. She thought women should weave 



The " Samurai " in Old Japan 143 

cloth and make clothes, so she made father's and 
mine, I have some of her making yet. The pro- 
verb says, ' Like marry like/ and so was it with 
my parents, they were alike in words and actions/ ' 

Arai's father was involved in troubles in the 
clan, and in his old age lost his position, and he 
and his wife shaved their heads and took up their 
residence in the temple of Tokyo, of which they 
were parishioners. The mother died when she 
was sixty- three, "leaving father and son," Arai 
writes, "in loneliness inexpressible. ' ' The father 
died when he was eighty-two, Arai being then in 
good circumstances, having retrieved the fortunes 
of the famiry. 

Arai's education was severe. Evidently his 
father did not aid him, but his mother gave him 
all her assistance. He began to write when he 
was three and to study poetry when he was six. 
At eight an immense task in writing the Chinese 
ideographs was set him, keeping him at work 
until late at night. When the days were short he 
moved his table out on the veranda, and when 
he grew sleepy and began to nod his friend threw 
a pot of cold water over him. So he went to work 
again , and as he gradually became dry and sleepy 
again his friend threw a second pailful of water 
over him and with its aid he completed his as- 
signed task. From his ninth year he conducted 
his father's correspondence, and from his thir- 
teenth his lord's. At eleven he was taught to 
fence and took up martial exercises to the neglect, 



144 Japanese Life 

he tells us, of his books, reading now chiefly 
stories of the wars. At seventeen he found a book 
which taught him something of the " Way," so 
he turned to the Chinese classics and gave his 
strength to them. He thus sums up his studies: 
" As I review my life it would appear that I should 
have made much greater progress had I had good 
teachers, as I began to write at three, study poetry 
at six, and the ' Way ' at seventeen. When I had 
time for study I was poor and when books were 
many I had no time to read. In this matter none 
has been more unfortunate. That I have so far 
succeeded is because I followed father's advice and 
* attacked the most difficult task first. ' " 

Arai took the same side as his father in the 
troubles in the clan and suffered with him, when 
after the death of his lord the heir came to power, 
and sought his advisers from the party which had 
opposed his father. Arai became a ronin, a mas- 
terless gentleman, and no longer officially a samu- 
rai. He supported himself in various ways, but 
in his extremity he kept his pride. Repeatedly 
he was sought in marriage by rich merchants for 
their daughters, but though offered large portions 
with the bride he refused with scorn, preferring to 
suffer as a samurai to living in luxury as a mer- 
chant. So, too, he refused to seek employment 
under any other noble until restored to favour by 
his own master, for had he not been taught that 
1 ' though lord ceases to be lord, servant does not 
cease to be servant/ ' and that "no man can serve 



The " Samurai' in Old Japan 145 

two lords ' ' ? Hence he waited until at last, his 
unjust reproach removed, he entered again into the 
position of an active samurai, bringing comfort to 
his aged father, who had strongly commended the 
sacrificing course of his son, like him preferring 
poverty to indignity. 

Characteristically, though Arai mentions the 
women he refused to marry, he tells us nothing of 
his wife, and mentions his children only in the most 
incidental way, as, also, he mentions his servants. 
Of the latter, for example, he tells us that in one 
instance when he was reduced to extremities two 
insisted upon following him, and when he told 
them he could neither pay them wages nor pro- 
vide them food, they replied that it would be 
strange indeed if two able-bodied persons could 
not provide for themselves and also serve him. 
So they had their way and went along. 

After various adventures he became tutor to the 
heir of the Shogun, and on his accession to the 
throne Arai was made court lecturer, a position of 
high honour, and, in Arai's hands, of commanding 
influence. Never did preacher take his task more 
seriously, for to him the Chinese philosophy was 
the expression of the final truth of the universe 
and the inspired guide for man. It set forth "the 
Way of Heaven and Earth and Man." During 
nineteen years Arai lectured more than 1299 times 
before his lord on the Chinese ethics, philosophy, 
history, and poetry. He describes the scene thus: 
" Yearly when the lectures began we had an 



H 6 Japanese Life 

opening ceremony and the courses of study for the 
year were determined, and at the close of the cere- 
mony I was given two suits of clothes. Lectures 
began on the fifteenth day of the first month and 
continued, even on ordinary festivals, to the end of 
the twelfth month, being interrupted only by very 
great occasions. When I became feeble my lord 
bade me come in the evening in hot weather and 
in the middle of the day in cold. He had one fire- 
box put between us when the weather was severe, 
and another behind me. When it rained or snowed 
he sent a servant to bid me stay at home. Usu- 
ally he wore his robes of ceremony at the lecture, 
excepting in summer, when he wore his unex- 
tended robes and the skirt of a samurai. He did 
not sit on the dais, but on the mats nine feet away 
from me, and even in the hottest weather he did 
not use his fan nor brush away the mosquitoes, 
and if he chanced to have a cold he carefully 
averted his head when he blew his nose. Though 
the lecture lasted two hours, all sat immovable 
throughout. Spring and autumn he took me 
with him to his villa, where I had a special apart- 
ment, with wine and tea. Often he asked me to 
write verses. He gave me costumes at the four 
seasons and gifts of gold and silver at the close 
of the year. When he became Shogun he sent 
very fine silks to my wife and children in the 
spring and in the summer thin silks and cakes. 
He often sent these last, and it became the custom, 
though it was done for no one else." 



The " Samurai' ' in Old Japan 147 

The conception of the State in the Chinese phil- 
osophy is like Plato's, — the philosopher should be 
king. But Sages are few, and common men must 
shape their lives by the transmitted wisdom of 
the past. So Arai regarded himself as the teacher 
of practical righteousness and did not hesitate to 
rebuke his master. L,ike many a samurai he was 
almost a Puritan in his notions, and taught the 
Shogun to avoid the very appearance of evil. He 
reproved him for appearing in private theatricals 
in the palace, and when, in Arai's absence, some 
dancing-girls were brought to the Court, Arai on 
his return sent in his resignation and withdrew it 
only on elaborate explanations and apologies. He 
was conscious not only of the evil effects of luxury 
and of vice, but he valued public opinion, and 
seemed mindful of the unseen presence of the 
illustrious dead and of the generations yet to come, 
and would have conduct so ordered that one might 
meet his peers of the present, the past, or the future 
without concealment and without reproach. 

In affairs of State Arai had as high ideals as in 
private life. There was need for reformation. The 
fifth Shogun of the Tokugawa family ruled from 
1680-1709. He was at once a superstitious Bud- 
dhist and a patron of the Chinese philosophy, but 
his life illustrated the virtues of neither faith. 
Profligate and prodigal in his private life, loose 
and partial in his administration of public affairs, 
things went rapidly from bad to worse. The 
finances were deranged, the currency was debased, 



14-8 Japanese Life 

taxes were increased, the administration of justice 
was debauched, and religious superstition at the 
instigation of Buddhist priests protected birds and 
dogs at the cost of human lives. The historian 
tells us that the heads of men who had been exe- 
cuted because of injuries to animals, chiefly to 
dogs, filled thirty casks, and he sums up the situa- 
tion thus: " That such a deteriorated Government 
did not find any one to lead a rebellion when men's 
minds were full of it was because of the trans- 
mitted virtue of the Tokugawa family." We 
more prosaic and unbelieving foreigners would 
say, because the fifth Shogun died and was suc- 
ceeded by the sixth, whose philosopher at Court 
was Arai Hakuseki. 

The sixth Shogun ruled from 1709 to 171 2, and 
his infant son succeeding lived only until 17x5. 
During these six years Arai was the power behind 
the throne He lived a strenuous life, and sought 
a root-and-branch reformation. In some things 
he succeeded, but in most he failed. His time was 
too short, the abuses were too great, and the foes 
of the public weal were too thoroughly entrenched. 
I^et me quote an instance to show how one squalid 
" touch of nature makes the whole world kin." 

"Things were bought and sold by public tender, 
opened in the presence of officials and merchants, 
the lowest offer to be accepted and payment to be 
on completion of the work. But there were gifts 
to officials when the tenders were sent in, and 
thank-offerings when the work was done. Those 



The " Samurai ' in Old Japan 149 

who gave nothing got nothing, however low their 
bids. No official failed to get rich and the treas- 
ury was exhausted. Things which were worth 
an hundred ryo cost ten thousand, the merchants 
also getting rich. So they divided the public 
wealth between them." Arai expresses his judg- 
ments without reserve: most of the officials were 
corrupt, some were stupid, some were pedants, 
and only two or three stood manfully with him 
for the correction of abuses. 

More foreign to our habits of thought was 
Arai's regard for the minutiae of etiquette. No- 
thing was too detailed for his notice, the shape of 
the roof of a gateway, the colour of his foot-gear, 
the style and shape of his scabbard, the position 
he should occupy, the form of words to be used, — 
all had profound significance, and were worthy of 
the study of a statesman. Again we note the in- 
fluence of the Chinese philosophy, which places 
propriety among the greater virtues and makes 
rites as important as righteousness. Sometimes 
Arai's punctiliousness had to do with grave mat- 
ters of State. When, for example, a Korean em- 
bassy visited the Court of the Shogun, Arai studied 
every detail of its reception with the utmost care, 
profoundly investigating the ancient precedents 
and insisting upon many changes in the more 
recent usage. He compelled the visitors to treat 
the Shogun as a king, and he would yield neither 
to the Koreans, nor to Japanese officials, nor to the 
Shogun himself. At the great State dinner he 



i5° Japanese Life 

kept the Shogun himself waiting for an hour until 
he forced the Korean ambassador to yield a matter 
of precedence which was in dispute; and finally, 
Arai carried his last point by his fierce determina- 
tion to kill both the Japanese minister who op- 
posed him and himself if he could not have his 
way. The Koreans yielded, but, on their return 
home, suffered death for their compliance, and for 
generations no other embassy followed them. 

Arai is credited with most ambitious plans for 
his lord, even with the design of ending the dual 
Government once for all, dethroning the Mikado, 
and making the Shogun in fact as in name su- 
preme. As a follower of Confucius and Mencius, 
he believed in no divine right of kings save the 
right conferred by fitness. He was familiar with 
the saying of Mencius, " I have never heard of a 
king's losing his power, though many a fellow has 
been driven from the throne." Arai had no faith 
in Shinto, but rationalised the ancient traditions 
and scoffed at the common notions of a divine an- 
cestry for Emperor or people. Had the Shogun 
been of an equal resolution, or had the lives of the 
sixth and seventh Shoguns been spared, Arai might 
have effected this revolution with momentous con- 
sequences to Japan and to the world. But of his 
plans, whatever they were, he says, " Now all is 
ended like an unfinished dream." 

Arai's breadth of mind was shown in his inter- 
views with Father SidottL He was a Jesuit who 
in 1709 was left alone on the shores of southern 



The " Samurai ' in Old Japan 151 

Japan, disappearing from the knowledge of Euro- 
peans until the publication of Arai Hakuseki's 
papers in our day. Sidotti was sent as a prisoner 
to Yedo, where he was examined in 1715 by Arai. 
His offence in visiting Japan was double, first as 
a Christian missionary and second as a European, 
and both offences were punishable with death. 
Arai visited him repeatedly, setting down the sub- 
stance of his interviews, and concluding thus: 

He is "a very brave man, whose retentive mem- 
ory holds vast stores of information, sincere, sober, 
earnest, self-denying, ready to appreciate goodness 
in others however slight, and with the meekness 
of a Sage. Born where that odious religion pre- 
vails he is not to be blamed that at the order of a 
superior he left an aged mother and a brother well 
advanced in years and came hither at the risk of 
life, enduring the perils and distresses which have 
overwhelmed him for these six years past. I can- 
not but wonder at his firm resolution. To put 
him to death is like shedding innocent blood and 
does not accord with the conduct of Sages. Nor 
will he recant to save his life. As he has come in 
ignorance of our laws instruct him in their severity 
and send him away." But Arai in this, as in 
much else, was too enlightened for his times. 
Father Sidotti was kept in confinement until his 
death, meanwhile converting the woman and man 
who served him. 

When the infant Shogun died, in 17 16, Arai 
with the other chief officials resigned, and he gives 



152 Japanese Life 

us his final words of relief: "As you know I rose 
by my own exertions from obscurity to a position 
high beyond my hopes. Such promotion is not 
common. With all modesty I may say it has 
been my duty to study all affairs of State since I 
became lecturer to the Shogun. For more than 
ten years I have scarcely known what I have 
eaten, and have been ill with anxieties day and 
night. With the accession of the infant Shogun 
I was still more troubled, but I purposed renewed 
diligence until death. But it has all ended like a 
dream. 

" Men think I was content and that I am dis- 
consolate! Not so! My release is like taking 
the burden from a feeble horse as he stands laden 
for a long journey. The favours of the present 
Shogun are double those of his predecessors, for 
he leaves me rank and emoluments and I grow 
old in peace. I am not ungrateful to my former 
masters, but what is more painful than a task be- 
yond one's powers? Now I take no medicine, 
enjoy my food, and grow old in peace, content to 
leave the time of death to fate. That mind and 
body for one day should be at rest is the chief 
good. No pleasure can exceed that." 

Arai shut his gate to visitors and devoted his 
remaining days to literary pursuits. He was 
historian, critic, poet, economist, and, most of all, 
statesman, the master of the learning of his time, 
independent of thought, and withal the active and 
ambitious man of great affairs. 



The " Samurai' in Old Japan 153 

The life of Arai gives us a glimpse into the real 
Japan, and as we study his life and his opinions 
we are impressed with his likeness to great men 
among ourselves. Could he have been trans- 
planted into the Europe of his day he would have 
been at home with statesmen and scholars, as 
samurai of like position in our time prove them- 
selves the peers of the leading men of Western 
lands. 




CHAPTER XI 



THE IvIFB OF THE " SAMURAI," NEW JAPAN 



IN Tokyo one meets the samurai chiefly as 
officials and in foreign dress and form. There 
even the old nobility are of little importance, not 
influencing the life of the nation, and the samurai 
merely as samurai have lost their distinctive 
characteristics. The chief distinction is between 
the officials and the people, the new bureaucracy 
supplementing the older aristocracy. This bureau- 
cracy, it is true, is composed almost wholly of 
men of samurai rank, but the distinction is not 
imperative. Naturally, in the city one finds a re- 
markable mixing of Japanese and foreign ways in 
the present stage of transition. Gentlemen have 
their clubs, somewhat dreary and unattractive, 
and European houses for state occasions, with the 
real home in Japanese style in the rear. The 
state dinners and state balls are in imitation of 
similar functions in other lands. Only on some 
rare occasion is the foreigner admitted to the inner 
life, and it is best perhaps to seek to understand 
it away from the capital. Let us therefore take a 

i54 



The "Samurai' in New Japan 155 

journey into the country to one of the great clans 
where something of the old life is still preserved, 
and where the gentlemen will entertain us with 
their own pleasures and in their own ways. 

Taking a little steamer from Kobe, in eighteen 
hours we approach the capital of Tosa, Kochi. 
The entrance to the bay is impossible when the 
wind blows strong from the east or south, for the 
passage winds sharply between the hills; behind 
them is a landlocked bay on w 7 hich lies the town. 
The steamer anchors more than a mile from the 
landing-place and is at once surrounded with little 
boats, clean and swift, and decorated with many 
coloured lanterns and window-slides. Across the 
quiet waters, reflecting the varied green of the 
hills, is the low grey town with its tall castle at 
the farther end, and range on range of snow r y 
mountains for the distant background. The town 
is like a score that we have seen along the coast, 
low and mean and undistinguished — can it be in- 
teresting or is there anything attractive in this 
humble place ? 

Our friends come clambering up the ship and 
give us a greeting that does not want for warmth 
or ceremony and we go with them in their swift 
boat to the shore. A dozen jin-riki-sha are at our 
service and we dash at a great pace down the long, 
clean streets, across a dozen bridges, past the 
looming castle, then through a green lane between 
high hedges, and a grass-covered bank to our 
house. There is a high gate with roof and 



*5 6 Japanese Life 

gate-house and a postern for daily use: to-day the 
great gates are unbarred and we roll in to the 
veranda, where we leave our shoes and, going in 
with stockinged feet, are refreshed with a tiny 
cup of tea. 

Then we inspect the house, which is placed at 
our disposal for a few weeks, — -the mansion of a 
samurai of wealth who is residing out of town. 
It is a rambling old house, one-story for the 
greater part, with thick brown thatched roof de- 
scending in sweeping curves over the polished 
veranda that runs almost around the house. 
Most of the w r alls in the daytime are paper, and, 
sliding back, make the house a pavilion. It has 
numerous rooms with unexpected turns and angles 
and queer-shaped windows, looking from room to 
room. In the rear is a two-story addition with 
very artistic rooms, the alcove, shelves, and 
drawers curious in their disposition and perfect in 
their workmanship; with windows in the shape of 
moon and stars in unexpected places, having slides 
concealing them, which give, the slides pushed 
back, pretty glimpses of the castle, hills, and river. 
In the front of the house is a large room arranged 
for private performances of the ancient sacred 
plays; it has a finely polished hardwood floor 
and the slides which separate it from the other 
rooms are made of wood, painted with birds and 
flowers and scenes from ancient history. 

The little garden is neglected, but is still restful 
to the eye and so laid out that its few yards 



The "Samurai" in New Japan 157 

seclude us perfectly from the quiet lane. The 
floors of the house (excepting the room for the 
plays) are covered with thick white mats, some of 
them the worse for wear. There is no furniture, 
not a chair or bed or table, just the walls and 
floor. Each room has an alcove at one end with 
a novel arrangement of shelves ; in the alcove 
hangs a picture and on the shelves is a vase or a 
piece of bronze. The house needs little decora- 
tion, for its whole construction has been carefully 
studied and the desired effect is perfectly attained. 
It is not in the least splendid, and it cannot be 
compared with the beautiful homes of England 
or the villas of America, for the whole con- 
ception is different, and if so elaborate an effect 
is not obtained, yet the desired end is perfectly 
reached. 

We sleep upon the floor and wake only when 
the sun is high above the eastern hills. A red- 
cheeked maid brings in a brasier full of charcoal, 
and we imagine a rise in the temperature. Next 
she brings a tiny pot of tea, with tinier cups, and 
goes away to prepare the bath in the lavatory on 
the veranda by the garden. After our bath we 
find the room swept, the bedding put away, and 
breakfast ready. A fresh supply of charcoal is in 
the brasier and the steaming kettle is ready for 
the second cup of tea. We each have a tray four 
inches high with rice and fish and a peculiar soup 
in dishes of porcelain and lacquer; and after 
breakfast loose-skinned oranges. 



158 Japanese Life 

A Japanese house charms us by its simplicity, 
but it is a studied simplicity, the thought which 
is expended upon it sometimes being almost in- 
credible; the matching of the timbers in colour 
and in grain, the peculiar pieces of wood which 
compose the ceiling, the style of decoration for 
slides and walls, — all these are the result of study, 
and the effect which charms us is the outcome of 
even centuries of development. 

The houses have their great defects — at night 
the verandas are enclosed with wooden slides, 
there is no ventilation, and the atmosphere be- 
comes almost unendurable. There is no cellar, 
and the floors, covered with thick mats, even in 
the good houses are of the slightest possible con- 
struction, admitting easily the poisonous exhala- 
tions of the ground: the construction being of 
wood, the danger of fire is constant. But for sim- 
plicity of living, for a house which meets not only 
the necessities of life but which gratifies the ar- 
tistic sense at the smallest expenditure of labour, 
nothing can excel them. In the comparison our 
own homes come to seem crowded, filled with 
articles not only unnecessary but obtrusive, and 
the immense expense of modern life appears to 
be, not the result of enlightened civilisation, but 
to be in defiance of intelligence. 

Japanese politeness permits early calls, and our 
guests come before we have finished breakfast. 
One proposes to show us the lions of the town, and 
the second has come to ask us to drink tea with 



The "Samurai" in New Japan 159 

him at a later hour. We accept both invitations 
and start at. once upon our stroll. 

The town has nothing splendid or imposing to 
show, but is monotonous, with its narrow streets 
bordered by tiny wooden shops, and the houses 
of the better class are hidden carefully away be- 
hind high fences or are in the rear of the shops. 
All go in the middle of the street — men and women 
about their business, children at their pla}^ and 
short, stubby ponies shod with straw and laden 
with country products. Crossing canals we come 
at last to the river, where there are boats of many 
shapes and kinds; pleasure-boats with pretty cab- 
ins and brown roofs, fishing-boats with gigantic 
umbrellas instead of sails, and junks with high, 
curved poops. We stop at the plain Liberal Club, 
and inspect its room for meetings, its fencing 
hall, and its printing-office, the chief reminder of the 
new Japan. Then we cross the market, where fish 
and fruit and vegetables are sold with loud voices 
and gesticulations, and we stop at the great tea 
house where is a room in which leading men of 
the various guilds meet to eat dinners and discuss 
their plans. Leaving town we cross a long 
wooden bridge, pass a ruined shrine, and climb a 
pretty hill that overlooks the town and bay. 
Here we linger long, the December sun filling the 
soft air with genial warmth; we take jin-riki- ska 
back through the long street to the house where 
we are to have our tea and where our friend takes 
his leave. 



i6o Japanese Life 

A servant admits us to a stone-paved court 
where the son of our host greets us and we go 
with him through a little gate into the garden. 
It has a pine, old, gnarled, and outspreading, a 
tiny pond, hills and winding walks, a little bridge, 
a shrine, forming a landscape in miniature. Our 
host greets us and takes us to his " tea-room.' ' 
No words can do it justice, for this strange- 
looking old man in plain clothes is aesthetic, and 
the Japanese can easily outdo his most ambitious 
brothers of the West. The tea-room opens to the 
garden, and its exposure is carefully adjusted to 
the view, everything common or unclean being 
hidden from our eyes. The ceiling is of well- 
matched bark, the house tree is an old gnarled 
post, the queer-shaped polished shelves rest on 
posts of brown bamboo, each board and stick 
chosen for its place. The only ornaments are a 
sentence of poetry plainly mounted and hung 
across the wall and a camellia in a vase. An iron 
kettle hangs from a bamboo crane, and the ashes 
in the fire-box have been curiously heaped and 
delicately pressed in figures. When we are seated 
the servant places the utensils for the tea at his 
master's side — each article a treasure, the lac- 
quered caddy for the tea, the porcelain jar full 
of cold water, the bamboo brush or beater, and 
a large earthen cup, hideous in our eyes, but 
precious to a man of taste. 

We are to drink " true tea," and ever since the 
days of the luxurious Shogun, Ashikaga Yoshi- 



The " Samurai ' in New Japan 161 

masa, its preparation has followed in detail the 
strictest rules. But to-day we have the function 
in its simplest form, with some relaxation of its 
severity in consideration of our foreign weakness. 
A silken napkin is taken from the girdle and each 
immaculate implement is wiped again; every mo- 
tion of the hand, the very expression of the face 
follows precedent: a mite of tea is put into the 
cup and, after cooling, a little water is poured on 
the tea, then with the bamboo brush it is beaten to 
a foam and handed to the most honoured guest, 
who receives it, lifts it to his forehead, looks his 
admiration of the cup, and then drinks off the 
draught. Turning the cup part way around he 
wipes it off and hands it to the host again, for the 
guest's part, like the host's, is according to strict 
rule. Again the cup is cleansed and the same 
ceremony is repeated for the second guest, and 
then the guests beseech the host to prepare a cup 
for himself and when he drinks his tea the func- 
tion is complete. 

In Tokyo there are professionals who gain their 
livelihood by this art. At tea houses and clubs 
they act the part of host for pay, and go to private 
families to instruct in the ceremonial. The room 
itself must be constructed especially and the gar- 
den must conform to rules that leave nothing to 
chance or individual taste. There are various 
schools that differ somewhat in details, but the 
main features are the same in all. When the full 
ceremony is performed an elaborate feast comes 



1 62 Japanese Life 

first, then the guests solemnly retire into the 
garden and take their seats in a prescribed place 
while the room is rearranged for the making of 
the tea. While they wait they may compose a 
verse. When the gong sounds they solemnly file 
in again to the same room they have left; the feast 
has been cleared away, the ornaments have been 
changed, and the water in the kettle is just ready 
to boil. After the host has drunk his tea the 
utensils are examined and each one praised in 
turn, and the festivity concludes with the exhi- 
bition of some artistic treasures. It takes three 
hours or more in its most elaborate form and few 
foreigners are bold enough to undertake it. 

This first day we had only the simplest cere- 
mony, and after our tea the wife of our host en- 
tered with the dinner on tiny trays and served us 
while we ate. After dinner poetry was proposed 
and long rolls of paper with ink and brushes were 
produced. The Japanese showed his skill by 
writing with his left hand in highly ornamental 
characters a verse of poetry; the papers are given 
to us as a memento, and we take our leave, the 
family accompanying us to the outer gate. 

Our way takes us by the castle with its park — 
it is now the public garden of the town, the moat 
shrunk to half its former size, the walls in decay, 
but their grimness relieved by trees and moss. 
The arrow tower which rises above the rest — and 
in time of siege the last resort — is frequented for 
the prett}^ view of town, bay, and hills. 



The "Samurai' in New Japan 163 

In the evening we have calls with many cups 
of tea, and smoke, and never-ending talk. We 
form plans for weeks to come for walks and rides 
and dinners, for to the samurai leisure is un- 
limited, and they are of untiring courtesy. 

One day we visited a breeder of rare fowls — his 
family had cultivated the curious breed for one 
hundred years with incalculable labour and as- 
tonishing results. The cocks do not moult their 
tail feathers, which grow steadily from year to 
year. One cock had a train six yards long, and 
its proud owner had shown him to the Emperor. 
So far as we could learn there was no gain sought, 
but only the pleasure that comes from ownership. 
The ancestors of the fowls came from China a 
hundred years ago, and the owner boasts that now 
in Japan none are pure except his own, so this 
samurai devotes his life to these long tails. 

There are collectors of old coins, who possess 
treasures as old as David's time. One of these 
gentlemen had a pleasant house, facing a charm- 
ing garden. As we remarked upon its pleasures 
he replied, " You observe, of course, that its style 
is composite, with philosophic and Buddhist mo- 
tives mingled.' ' So skilfully had the situation 
been improved that the garden line faded away to 
the distant mountains. " Yes," he said, " I an- 
nexed the mountain." Gardening is an art 
studied as carefully as lacquer work or painting, 
for it, too, has its various schools and styles with 
its differing themes and corresponding treatment. 



1 64 Japanese Life 

In many cases it seems to us the height of arti- 
ficiality, there is so much that is conventional in 
the development of its themes, but admiration 
comes with study, and finally the amateur declares 
that in its highest forms it is not surpassed, per- 
haps not equalled, elsewhere. The highest Eng- 
lish authority, Mr. Conder, tells us that this art, 
like all the ornamental arts, originated in China, 
but in its present form dates from the time of the 
same Shogun who devoted himself to the tea 
ceremonial; and that it has had an independent 
development since its introduction. " No art 
in Japan has been followed with greater fidelity 
to nature than landscape gardening . . . the 
garden is regarded as a poem or a picture, in- 
tended to arouse particular association and inspire 
some worthy sentiment. Sometimes the sugges- 
tion of some natural scene of mountains, or forest, 
or river may be intended; sometimes a purely 
abstract sentiment is to be conveyed, such as the 
idea of patient retirement from the world, medita- 
tion, or ambition; if, for example, a garden be de- 
signed for a poet or for a philosopher, its general 
description should express dignified seclusion, 
solitude, virtue, or self-abnegation. The habit 
of regarding a garden as an ornamental append- 
age to a building and constructing it with a view 
to possessing rare collections of plants and stones 
and making a display of wealth is much con- 
demned by Japanese writers as leading invariably 
to an effect of vulgarity. Gardening, it is stated, 



The " Samurai ' in New Japan 165 

should be undertaken from a genuine love of na- 
ture and with a desire of enjoying the beauties of 
natural scenery. There should be pleasant re- 
treats for hours of leisure and idleness and, as one 
writer has poetically expressed it, ' places to stroll 
in when aroused from sleep.' " When, however, 
these beauties in their variety are expressed in 
the space of a few square feet, the imagination 
becomes fatigued and one would as soon think 
of strolling in a child's toy village " when 
aroused from sleep." But in the great gardens 
of the rich, the effect is all that Mr. Conder can 
suggest. 

The love of nature that so distinguishes the 
people suggests charming and elevating pleasures. 
As spring comes on, picnic parties go to the gar- 
dens devoted to the plum and cherry, for the 
flowering trees and choice plants have special 
gardens devoted to them, the plum, the cherry, 
the wistaria, the iris, the azalea, the peony, and 
the chrysanthemum, and their flowering makes 
successive f£tes. When the cherry is in bloom, 
the whole city goes out to enjoy the spectacle. 
We select a pleasant day in the early spring 
and start off with a company of our friends. 
A pleasant walk across the fields and through 
shady lanes brings us to the garden; it has walks 
and hills with a little lake and a winding stream. 
We sit in an arbour and sip our tea and smoke, 
and in good time dinner is served. If we are 
genuine Japanese, wq compose a verse. Finally, 



1 66 Japanese Life 

in the same leisurely fashion we go home, satisfied 
but not fatigued. 

Sometimes we take longer tramps through the 
woods and up the mountains, that we may enjoy 
the splendid scenery in its glory and not in min- 
iature. In frequented parts of the country we 
are sure to find a tea house with its refreshments, 
just where we wish to stop and feast our eyes 
upon the scene, for this is the choicest of all lands 
for inexpensive jaunts and journeyings. With 
little packs upon their backs our young friends go 
off to see the world: students make long and in- 
expensive tours, visiting famous places, and there 
is an immense moving from place to place, the 
public roads being thronged and all like a pro- 
longed picnic. Even the coolies who go along to 
bear the burdens find a pleasure in their work, 
and the chief maxim is, Never be in a hurry, no 
matter how many days are spent upon the road. 

In the old days when the samurai went with 
their lords to Yedo, the longer the time upon the 
way the happier the progress, There were innu- 
merable cups of tea and pipes of tobacco and early 
stops and late starts. The journey counted as 
part time of the hated stay in Yedo. If they went 
part way by sea and the winds were dead ahead, 
so much the better, for the longest and slowest 
journey, with the most delays, was most highly 
prized. Enough of this spirit still remains to 
provoke or please the foreigner according to his 
mood. 



The " Samurai ' in New Japan 167 

One day we went a-fishing — not wading in the 
forest but sitting quietly on cushions in a slow- 
moving boat, with tea and pipes and fans, while 
the fisherman in the bow amused us by his skill 
in throwing the net and capturing the finny tribe. 

Our great apartment was put in requisition for 
a play; the actors were semi-professional, and the 
performance lasted all the afternoon. The theme 
was mythological and it belonged to the style of 
drama called No. Only the specially educated 
enjoy it, and its patrons are scholars and men of 
rank. It is strictly legitimate and severely simple, 
like all Japanese high art, and there is a great 
deal of solemn posturing to discordant music 
which is too Oriental for our taste. The postur- 
ing of the miscalled dancing girls is a poetry of 
motion too difficult for our eyes to unravel, for its 
meaning is more obscure than the verses even of 
the archaic Shinto poets. Sometimes we can 
detect a meaning, as of the falling of autumn 
leaves, but usually the movement is too slow and 
repetitious and conventional for uneducated and 
foreign eyes. Sometimes the dance becomes an 
orgy, but this is never associated with the No, but 
is reserved for after-dinner debauchery. As the 
posturing is too difficult for the dull foreign eye, 
so is the music for the dull foreign ear. To us it 
is like a crash of inharmonious sounds, out of 
tune and key; sometimes the solo work is intel- 
ligible, but the full orchestra, except in occasional 
passages, rends our ears. So far as we can judge, 



1 68 Japanese Life 

the effort is to reproduce the sounds of nature, and 
Confucius highly esteemed it, holding it a mighty 
means for government, but only now and then do 
the forms take such shape that we can dimly dis- 
cern them or briefly enjoy them. 

The solemnity of the No — which our Japan- 
ese friends followed seriously with book, taking it 
as earnestly as the student does his Wagner opera 
— is relieved by a farce full of humour and excel- 
lently acted. It serves as a relaxation, and is in 
striking contrast to the masks and antique mag- 
nificence and elaborate phrasing and posturing of 
the No. 

To visit the theatre is not good form for 
the samurai, but is the amusement of the lower 
classes. In this province in the old days it was 
forbidden altogether. The play lasted all day, 
the actors were men of very low repute, and the 
acting often obscene and coarse. The bad esteem 
in which they were held is shown by the fact that 
the auxiliary numerals used in counting them 
were those used not for men but for beasts. 

But Japanese sports are not all of this easy- 
going nature. Invitations to hunting parties are 
declined, although we afterwards received the 
spoils. Japanese gentlemen go far away to the 
mountains in pursuit of game, for Buddhism has 
not succeeded in teaching this martial race of men 
to give up the soldier's sport, and the Japanese 
samurai, though accomplished in art and letters, 
are still more expert with sword and spear and 



The " Samurai ' in New Japan 169 

bow. In the fencing halls men well protected on 
head and body fence furiously, using two-handed 
bamboo foils with which they strike but never 
thrust. The match begins with bows to the floor 
and closes in like manner, with apologies for 
harsh treatment. Sometimes the duel becomes a 
battle with a score of men on either side. 

One day we had an exhibition with the sword 
that illustrated a chief phase of samurai life in the 
old da}^s. The most famous swordsman of this 
very warlike clan came to our house and for half 
an hour showed us how in every position he could 
draw his sword and kill his adversary. Bowing 
until his head touched the floor, he could cut 
down his enemy before he raised his head from 
the profound obeisance which neither would omit. 
The stealthy attack from behind and sudden two- 
to-one attack in front were alike anticipated and 
foiled; alone in a crowd, in the street, or in his 
home he must be ready, for his life depended upon 
making no mistake. Our swordsman was the 
most unoffensive and kindly of men, but as he 
took his place and began the practice of his art, 
a strange, hard expression passed upon his face 
and it did not seem mere play. 

Assassination with the sword was a fine art in 
Japan, sometimes for reason of State or politics, 
sometimes for private revenge; for revenge was 
legalised — a sacred dut}^ and he who neglected it 
was despised, so sons avenged their fathers and 
soldiers their lords, and even women took up the 



170 Japanese Life 

feud. Certain formalities having been observed, 
the duty could be fulfilled at any time or place — 
the method was not of consequence: the enemy 
might be surprised and cut down at sight, struck 
at from behind, or overpowered — every plan was 
legitimate that secured the end. Sometimes it 
was a fair duel between men of equal skill, but 
such fair play was not essential, as no one asks 
fair play for a condemned criminal. But, with 
one killing, the feud was at an end. The ability 
to draw the sword and cut down a man at sight 
was the equivalent of ' ' getting the drop upon a 
man" in the lawless society of the Far West a few 
years ago in the United States. In Japan this 
was not the passing phase of a rude state of so- 
ciety, but the legalised custom of centuries, so, 
of course, there were many skilful swordsmen. 
Nowhere has the cult of the sword been carried to 
a completer development; if it be drawn in wrath 
it can be returned to the scabbard only when 
stained with blood. In a duel both contestants 
lost their lives, the victor committing suicide, and 
the seconds also taking their lives, yet men fought 
duels — sometimes with seconds. 

The soldier's spirit was fostered in the schools 
for the samurai. In the famous school in Aidzu 
the boys began the day with the worship of Confu- 
cius, and his philosophy occupied their thoughts 
for years. They learned to ride and fight and 
shoot. They left their homes at an early age, 
thenceforth the feudal lord being in place of 



The " Samurai' ' in New Japan 171 

father. They were divided into groups, and their 
natural rivalry was fostered into enmity, so that 
they fought furiously among themselves, but, like 
their seniors, always according to strict rule. 
Some clans lost this martial spirit during the cen- 
turies of peace, but Aidzu proved the most stub- 
born of the Tokugawa followers, and when at last 
it yielded to the southern clans, some of the wives 
and mothers, following the traditions of the past, 
killed their infants and slew themselves, for they 
would not survive the defeat of their fathers, 
brothers, and husbands. 

Besides fencing there was archery, but we saw 
little of this, as it has gone almost wholly out of 
fashion. One day, however, some mounted arch- 
ers shot at successive targets, their horses on the 
run, with just space enough between the targets 
for the arrow to be put in place if the hand 
were true and no mistake were made. The old 
men were skilful and easily surpassed their 
youthful competitors, for it had once been part 
of the work of life, while now it is only an 
exciting play. 

In earlier times the feats of skill and endurance 
were extraordinary. In Kyoto is a temple with a 
veranda one hundred and twenty-eight yards long 
and sixteen feet to the roof. An archer has sent 
more than eight thousand arrows down its length 
in twenty-four hours. And in Tokyo, on a ver- 
anda of the same dimensions, in twenty consecu- 
tive hours an archer discharged more than ten 



172 Japanese Life 

thousand arrows, half of which traversed the dis- 
tance without hitting the roof. The roof is full 
of arrows, the memorials of failures innumerable. 
The prettiest game was polo. In the spring the 
samurai played every day for a week or more in 
a grassy lane by the river side. There was a 
high bank that answered for the grand stand, 
where were banners, and booths and cushions, 
with refreshments for the hungry lookers-on. 
The people began to gather in the early morning 
and picnicked all day, during the morning stroll- 
ing along the river or chatting at their ease. At 
one o'clock the game began. Twenty horsemen 
gathered at the far end of the narrow lane and at 
our end were both goals. Each rider has a ball, 
ten reds and ten whites, and each is to throw his 
opponent's ball through the goal, preventing him 
meanwhile from returning the compliment. At 
the signal twenty balls are thrown down the lane 
and twenty riders follow at full speed. With long 
bamboo sticks, with dainty nets fastened at the 
ends, they pick up and throw the balls, each seek- 
ing to send his opponent's ball on toward the goal 
and his own back toward the starting-point. The 
contest grows intense as the balls grow less, the 
crowds applauding and urging on the combatants. 
Riders are unmounted, there are sharp encounters 
of men and horses — finally some especially bril- 
liant horsemanship or long, skilful throw gives the 
victory. The victors ride back to the head of the 
lane, shouting and swinging their clubs; the van- 



The " Samurai ' in New Japan 173 

quished walk slowly back, leading their horses 
in their humility. With changes of players the 
game continues all the afternoon. 

One sees little of the wives and women of the 
families. At an elaborate dinner party given by 
the leading samurai of the province, his little 
daughter, ten years old, was present and sat in 
the middle of the room, never stirring during the 
long feast save to give orders by a slight motion. 
She formed the most charming part of a beauti- 
fully constructed picture, but the wife of our 
host and his older daughters did not appear. 
After I had been repeatedly to the house of a 
friend, at last, with apologies, he introduced his 
wife as one might venture to present a higher serv- 
ant. The marriages are arranged in infancy. A 
modern samurai, educated abroad, objected to the 
early betrothal of his son, but his wife insisted, 
saying, ' * If you wait, all the girls of his age and 
rank will be engaged, and then what shall he do ? ' ' 
It was unreasonable, he said to me, but inevitable, 
and he followed his wife's advice. There are 
stories told of unreasonable men who divorce 
many wives — one as many as ten before he could 
suit his unduly fastidious taste, for marriage has 
never taken the place it has attained with us; it 
is far too one-sided, with the obligations on the 
weaker side. The wife waits on her husband and 
never eats with him; she is as a servant in his 
eyes, and he treats her on the same terms and with 
the same language as his other servants. She 



i74 Japanese Life 

stays close at home, knows nothing of the world, 
does not participate in the thoughts and plans of 
her husband, nor dream of equality. Doubtless 
her position is better than the position of wives in 
many Eastern lands, and there are often mutual 
love and respect and happy life at home, but the 
closer the inspection of the Eastern home the less 
it seems to satisfy the ideals we have been taught 
to form. 

Eife in remote Japan is quiet, narrow, and 
yet does not lack for interest, as we have seen. 
There are books, manly sports, aesthetic enjoy- 
ment, and the pleasure that conies from rank and 
power; it is calm and leisurely, without hurry or 
ambition. The young men are full of life and 
spirit, the elders are mildly blase. Men who have 
hardly reached middle life are ready to withdraw, 
hand their estates and honours to their sons, and, 
as one said to me, ' ' go a-fishing for the remainder 
of their days." From Emperor to shopkeeper, 
it has been the fashion to abdicate. The pride of 
possession is not great, as with us, and resignation 
for them is an easier virtue; so they make sacri- 
fices without a thought, which we should think 
w T ell-nigh impossible. Their feelings are intense 
but not deep; there is a serene unconsciousness of 
self, for personality is not supreme, and they feel 
themselves to be parts of the universe, not its 
centre. They are schooled to dignified repression 
of emotion, yet are fervent admirers of strength of 
any sort; they are hero-worshippers, and as long 



The " Samurai ' in New Japan 175 

as the worship lasts are self-sacrificing followers 
of their demigod. 

In the new era the samurai are oftentimes in 
financial difficulties: a few still retain hereditary- 
estates; others have invested the bonds they re- 
ceived from the Government fortunately; some, 
again, are successful in business enterprises, and 
a very large number are in the employ of the 
Government. Possibly in these various ways 
one- half are provided for, the others having sunk 
down into the masses of the people, retaining only 
the nominal rank of their family. With the 
change in their position, the framework of society 
has been largely destroyed, and with it the old 
ethics and the old social traditions, leaving little 
in its place. The older men, like older men in 
most lands, lament the change, feeling that the 
morality of the nation has deteriorated and desir- 
ing strongly a termination of the moral inter- 
regnum — their problem being what to substitute. 

The Japanese of the modern day is filled with 
intellectual curiosity. We never lacked for sub- 
jects for a talk;- — my old friend, the collector of 
ancient coins, with the little garden that ' ' an- 
nexed the mountain/' would talk of Old Japan 
and then of Darwin and Huxley and Mill — the 
oldest thought of ancient Asia mingled constantly 
with the newest thought of the most progressive 
West. It is sometimes said that the Japanese are 
not frank and refuse to admit foreigners to the 
secrets of their lives; but night after night we 



176 Japanese Life 

spent long hours, seated upon the mats, asking 
and answering questions, they seeking informa- 
tion of our Western lands, and I asking them in 
turn whatever I desired to know of their customs, 
their history, their purpose, and their lives; and 
never anywhere could one wish to meet a group 
of gentlemen more responsive or more frank. As 
one remembers his own experience of the hospi- 
tality of the samurai of Japan, of their welcome 
for a stranger, of their courtesy through weeks of 
intercourse, of their desire to minister in all ways 
to his enjoyment and his instruction, one can only 
feel that nowhere are there men more worthy of 
esteem and more likely to win our affectionate 
regard. 

The chief amusement in a place like Kochi, after 
all, was conversation — the intellectual life was 
keen and the interest great. Twenty years ago 
every foreigner was supposed to be a mine of 
information: in this visit, for example, we were 
asked questions as to prison reform, the proper 
basis for a national currency, the best method for 
the establishment of banks; whether it would be 
better to build a railway across the mountains to 
the inland sea, or to dig out the harbour and widen 
its entrance so that it might be easy of access for 
sea-going steamers; whether, on the whole, for a 
nation in the situation of Japan, a militia would 
not suffice without a standing army; as to the 
various forms of constitutional government, Ger- 
manic, British, and American, with their adapta- 



The " Samurai " in New Japan 177 

tions to Japanese needs; as to the expediency of 
opening certain mines and the probability of profit 
from them; and, with all these practical questions 
on many subjects, problems which were more ab- 
struse, — the origin of species through the struggle 
for existence; the comparison of European and 
Chinese idealistic philosophy; the definitions of 
time and space; and as my specialty, the pro- 
foundest topics of theology and of human destiny, 
for English is the key which opens the door to 
knowledge, and we, possessing the key, were sup- 
posed to possess the knowledge. It was all re- 
latively superficial, of course, for the men, as has 
been said, were in the position of a rustic, untech- 
nical but intelligent, on his visit to a World's 
Fair. First of all, he must obtain a slight know- 
ledge of much before he could expect to master 
anything in its details. It is characteristic of this 
stage in the Japanese intellectual development 
that students desire to get at once at the heart of 
the matter and are impatient of beginnings. If, 
for example, they learn that Kant or Hegel is the 
great authority in philosophy, they do not under- 
stand why they should not begin with the greatest 
—omitting introductory and lesser works. The}?- 
would even carry this into mathematics and 
physics, and so have gained for themselves among 
foreigners a reputation for an appearance of 
knowledge without its substance. In part this 
was only a passing phase, for the Japanese have 
show 7 n themselves quite competent to master in 



178 Japanese Life 

their completeness our lines of study, and yet it is 
indicative, in part, of a certain attitude of the Jap- 
anese mind. Study for them is, on the whole, for 
the exceptional man, and courses should be ar- 
ranged for them— dullards and sluggards drop- 
ping out or gaining little, as is natural. 

If the chief amusement was talk, the chief busi- 
ness was politics. The samurai still control the 
Government. Tosa early broke from its allies in 
the Three Clan League and entered a path of its 
own with Mr. (now Count) Itagaki as leader. A 
liberal league was formed, half secret, throughout 
Japan, and its head was our host. His followers 
told us that their loyalty to him was because of 
his unselfish devotion to principle, and he de- 
scribed his aims as seeking the development of the 
common people and the elevation of the masses to 
the status once occupied by the samurai only. He 
proposed therefore a parliament on the plan of 
England's with a liberal constitution and the re- 
presentatives of the people supreme. The party 
triumphed in part in the Constitution given in 
1889, but twenty years ago it was still in the 
midst of its struggles. Several of the leading men 
of Kochi had been already imprisoned by the Gov- 
ernment, and at a later period, 1887, were impris- 
oned again on an administrative order. So that 
politics was associated with enough of danger to 
make it highly exciting, for they never knew 
when home might be exchanged for prison. 
Their spirit is best illustrated by their course at 



The " Samurai " in New Japan 179 

that time. When iny dear friend, Mr. Kataoka 
was arrested in Tokyo one Sunday night, he de- 
manded the cause, but the officers refused to talk 
with him. The next morning a higher official 
came to the prison and told him that he could 
leave up to twelve o'clock, if he would take the 
train to Yokohama and the steamer that afternoon 
for Kochi and remain there in his own home, away 
from the capital for three years; otherwise, he 
should remain in prison for the same period. But 
Mr. Kataoka told the officer that though the Gov- 
ernment with its power could keep him in prison 
for three years or for life, no power could force 
him, seemingly of his own will, to cross the city 
and go from the capital of the nation as if he were 
a criminal when he had committed no offence. So 
he remained in prison until twelve o'clock, when 
the doors w r ere closed and he was held for eighteen 
months. 

At the close of that period, on the giving of the 
Constitution by the Emperor, Mr. Kataoka and 
his friends were pardoned and immediately en- 
tered into a fierce political contest for the control 
of the first Parliament. Returning to Tosa he 
was offered his choice of the districts, three of 
which were almost certainly liberal and the fourth 
as likely conservative. He chose the conservative 
district, saying that if any portion of his own 
countrymen would not send him to Parliament, he 
would prefer to stay at home. The district was 
Buddhist in its faith, and Mr. Kataoka was an 



i8o Japanese Life 

elder in the Presbyterian Church. This fact was 
used against him by his opponents, and he was 
urged by his party leaders to give up his office in 
the Church, but he replied that if he must choose 
between the Church and the Parliament, he would 
take the Church. It is worthy of mention that 
Mr. Kataoka's course did not injure his political 
career; indeed, precisely these qualities win the 
Japanese heart. Until his death he represented 
his district in the parliament, through all the vi- 
cissitudes of the changing political situation, and 
for the last four years (until December, 1903) he 
was the speaker of the lower House. 

The intense political feeling manifested itself in 
violence. The Government arrested men and im- 
prisoned them without trial, and the opposition 
responded with plots and riots. Even after the 
Constitution had been granted and the Parliament 
elected, the Government curtailed liberty of 
speech and printing, and was charged with unfair 
attempts at controlling elections. Mobs formed 
in many places, and the unenfranchised masses 
were used, by all parties, to coerce the electors. 
Later, bands of ruffians were formed for the same 
purpose, men who were supposed to represent the 
spirit of the ancient masterless samurai, ready for 
any exploit, and not loath to deeds of violence. 

All this proved only a passing phase, but it 
was followed by a still more sinister development. 
The Imperial Diet has been charged repeatedly 
with corruption, its members being accused of 



The " Samurai " in New Japan 181 

selling their votes and their influence. The 
charges are doubtless founded upon facts, and 
the condition is likely to be permanent; for the 
members are underpaid, and they are drawn for 
the most part from the class which is without 
financial resources, so that temptation comes with 
especial power. Nor has patriotism yet set a 
standard which makes the bribe-taker or -giver 
a sinner or a traitor. Yet a public opinion is 
forming which condemns this, and we would not 
imply that the Japanese are sinners above others. 
Only, in this as in other things, they have no 
monopoly of virtue, but with constitutional gov- 
ernment acquire also its vices; and as Arai Haku- 
seki shows us, official corruption is not a novelty, 
only its expression through the representatives of 
the people being peculiar to the present time. 

The ancient disregard of life continues; and 
there are many examples. In 1891 a subordinate 
official killed himself on a temple veranda a short 
distance from my house in Tokyo. He made a 
statement of the causes leading to his suicide : For 
years he had been stationed in the northern island 
of the Empire and had brooded over the designs of 
Russia. As a petty officer he could not hope to 
gain the ear of the Government, and so he killed 
himself, that by his death the attention of the 
public might be called to his views. 

When the Prince Imperial of Russia was at- 
tacked near Kyoto the whole Empire was moved 
by the outrage upon a guest of the Emperor, and 



1 82 Japanese Life 

a few days later a woman killed herself upon the 
same spot, explaining in her letter that she was a 
native of the village with the ruffian who had at- 
tacked her Emperor's guest and that she could 
not survive the disgrace. 

In 1889 Viscount Mori was killed by a Shinto 
fanatic. The assassin was not a priest nor con- 
nected with the temples where the alleged offence 
had been committed, nor had he any public posi- 
tion, but was the self-constituted avenger of a 
slight to his nation's gods. Killed at once, he was 
made a hero by the Tokyo populace, not because 
it sympathised with his views, nor because it was 
opposed to Viscount Mori, but purely because it 
admired the courage and self-sacrifice of the deed. 

Again, Count Okuma, when Minister of For- 
eign Affairs, returning from the office to his 
residence, was attacked by a samurai who threw 
a bomb toward his carriage. Fortunately, the 
Count only lost his leg and not his life, but the 
would-be murderer killed himself before he could 
be arrested. That night I chanced to be in vari- 
ous places of resort where samurai assembled, 
and from all I heard only expressions of admira- 
tion for the deed, the daring of it, and the readi- 
ness with which the assassin took his own life. 

The Chinese philosophy has taught men that 
only worthy rulers have a divine right to govern, 
and it has further taught the lower officers that on 
them depends the honour of their native land. 
Hence the samurai have esteemed themselves re- 



The " Samurai' in New Japan 183 

sponsible for the policy of the Government, for 
the conduct of national affairs, and for the deeds 
of statesmen. We in our Western fashion leave 
reforms to the officers of the State, or through great 
popular movements we seek to bring about a 
change, and we do not imagine that to each one of 
us there has been committed a personal responsi- 
bility which we must discharge at the cost of our 
own lives. In these things the intelligent man of 
good position in the United States is at furthest 
remove from his compeer in Japan. 




CHAPTER XII 

THE COMMON PEOPLE : FARMERS, ARTISANS, 
AND ARTISTS 

THE life of the common people is much like 
the life of the peasantry in other lands. 
Next to the samurai ranked the farmers, and some 
of these men were rich and lived in abundance and 
even in luxury. I remember the farmhouse of 
the older brother of a friend, standing far removed 
from the public road, an avenue of great trees 
leading to its somewhat pretentious gate. Within 
the gate was a mansion, comparable to the one 
described before in Tosa, with many rooms and a 
beautiful and ancient garden. The owner was a 
farmer on a very large scale, with five hundred 
tenants, and his land had come down to him 
through many generations of ancestors by strict 
primogeniture. His tenants were at his mercy, 
as they owned only their cabins and the land on 
which their cabins stood, and not a foot besides. 
He could not turn them out of their houses, but 
he could deprive them of employment at his will. 
My friend, in illustrating the completeness of his 

184 



The Common People 185 

father's control, pointed out a cabin with the 
stump of a tree beside it and said: " My father 
had that tree cut down. I remonstrated, saying, 
'The peasant gets much pleasure from it,' but 
he replied, ' So much pleasure that by and by he 
will begin to think the tree his own, so I will cut 
it down at once.' " 

The custom as to tenant right varied in differ- 
ent provinces. In Tosa the peasant could possess 
his land so long as he paid the rent and could dis- 
pose of his lease as he saw fit, nor could the land- 
lord increase his rent, and all the profits from 
improvements were his own. But in the neigh- 
bourhood of Tokyo, more directly under the 
Tokugawa rule, the peasants were at the mercy 
of their wealthier landlords. This farmer of 
whom I speak was not only landlord, but petty 
magistrate, and he was permitted on occasion to 
wear a single sword. Yet, though he was the 
most important man in the region, he was at the 
mercy of the samurai, and when the officials came 
through the district, they would stop at his house, 
use it as their own, treat his wife as if she were a 
servant, and go on their way without a cent of 
pay. So disagreeable were these visits that the 
farmer compounded for them, paying the officials 
a certain rate per year with which they could 
entertain themselves at the village inn. 

Before visiting the home my friend charged me 
carefully as to the language I should use to his 
brother's wife, " For," he said, " if you use the 



1 86 Japanese Life 

terms with which you address the city women, 
she will think that you are mocking her; there- 
fore talk to her with plain speech." 

The farms of the peasants average one acre and 
a quarter each, and four-tenths of the products are 
paid for rent. It is plain that the support of a 
family on six-tenths of the products of an acre 
and a quarter is a matter of the greatest difficulty. 
A farmer brought me his accounts, showing the 
gross results of a year of labour. It came to $18, 
and out of this he bought most of the food which 
he ate and paid for all his expenses, for the peas- 
ant farmer cannot eat the rice which he grows — 
he must sell it and buy cheaper food, rye, wheat, 
and millet. In addition to the rice, he raises, on 
the borders of his fields and every scrap of other- 
wise unused land, vegetables, with which, and 
the cheapest of fish and the grains mentioned, he 
must be content. Only on high festivals, once or 
twice a year, can he indulge in the luxury of rice. 
I said to the farmer who showed me his accounts, 
" How can you ever make two ends meet ? " and 
he replied, ' ' By arithmetic the feat is impossible, 
but in actual life we somehow manage it." 

Clothing, of course, is of the simplest, and in 
hot weather is almost wholly wanting. The 
woman shares with her husband in all the labours 
of the field, as of the house, and has an independ- 
ence unknown to her more favoured sisters in 
the capital. The pleasures are found chiefly in 
connection with the neighbouring temple and with 



The Common People 187 

journeys to remoter shrines and places of note, for 
the common people manage in their poverty to 
travel. They are formed in associations in which 
each member pays one cent a month as dues, and 
once a year lots are drawn and the favoured few, 
taking the whole sum collected, go on pilgrimage. 
Sometimes on the journey they wear peculiar hats 
and special garments, handed down from year to 
year. They carry banners and with them goes 
some man who acts as guide, and at every point 
of interest volubly and loudly describes the scene. 
Especially in the intervals of farm work one sees 
these groups, aggregating thousands, going by 
the cheapest conveyances, stopping at the cheap- 
est inns, eating the cheapest food, and having an 
amount of pleasure which any one might envy. 

Only when taxation becomes unendurable does 
the peasant yield to discontent. There are stories 
in Old Japan of fierce gatherings of farmers who 
destroyed their landlord and his property and 
sometimes carried their grievances to the capitol. 
But under the new regime such risings are un- 
known, partly because the weight of taxation is 
less and is no longer subject to the whims of in- 
dividuals, partly because the peasant now has the 
same rights with other men and there are other 
means for making his needs known, and partly 
because he finds new opportunities for gaining the 
objects which he desires. 

Naturally enough, the state of morality among 
the peasants is low. In some provinces, in the 



1 88 Japanese Life 

past at least, there was a good deal of infanticide 
or, if the infant daughters were not killed, they 
were sold to lives of infamy. The men, brought 
up without respect for women and without ideals 
of high virtue for themselves, sought their pleas- 
ures in ways little above those of animals. 

The hard life with its limited interests and nar- 
row outline has driven thousands of men in the 
last few years to the cities. In the old days they 
were forbidden to leave their homes; there were 
barriers on all the main roads, where travellers 
were checked and examined and sent back if they 
could not give a good account of themselves. But 
with restrictions removed, thousands of young 
men have given up their ancestral homes with the 
monotonous toil and scanty remuneration. The 
jin-riki-sha men in Tokyo are largely recruited 
from the farmer class, as they find liberty, larger 
pay, less constant toil, better things to eat, and the 
amusements of the city. Their pay is about two 
cents a mile, and they earn varying sums per day. 
In a private family the jin-riki-sha man is content 
with eight dollars per month, out of which he 
buys his food and perhaps supports his family. 
He is the most pampered of his fellows, though 
sometimes the men who stand on the corners of 
the streets earn much more money for a time. It 
is customary to engage them at rates settled in 
advance, for short trips or for long. Often, like 
cab drivers in all lands, they attempt to take far 
more than their lawful fare; and sometimes discus- 




A PILGRIM TO MT. FUJI. 



The Common People 189 

sions as to the rate of pay are noisy and prolonged, 
but if the traveller is wise enough to make his 
bargain in advance, he may be certain that his 
human steed will find no fault and faithfully per- 
form his part to the end. On long journeys the 
jin-riki-sha men are changed at stages of, say, ten 
miles, but occasionally they prefer to go the w r hole 
day, making journeys that seem incredible. 

On the west coast of Japan a man pulled me in 
one day fifty-five miles over ordinary country roads, 
up hill and down. I remonstrated repeatedly, 
but he told me that his home was at the end of 
our route, and he desired to get back that night. 
It took him eleven hours to cover the distance. 
At its end, taking me to the hotel, while I en- 
gaged my room and exchanged salutations with 
my host, he threw water over himself and put on a 
clean robe. Then he followed me to my room in 
the rear, bowed himself to the floor and said: 
" You must be tired after so long a ride, and I de- 
sire to know if there is not something I can do to 
help you." 

Sometimes we would engage men by the week 
making a round of resorts and on these trips day by 
day, perhaps thirty miles would be an average run. 
On such long journeys the men come to consider 
themselves your personal servants and your friends; 
they are on the outlook for whatever they think 
will amuse or interest, pointing out bits of scenery, 
telling the incidents that they chance to know 
from history and, if they find you are interested, 



i9° Japanese Life 

say, in flowers, bringing specimens. With un- 
failing politeness and good nature and endur- 
ance, on the whole I do not think that the coolies 
of Japan can be equalled by those of any other race 
or place. The men engaged in a family for such 
work could be trusted absolutely. They would 
take little children for any distance and to any 
place and their employer would be certain that no 
harm would come and that they would defend his 
interests as their own. 

The artisans in the ancient regime ranked next 
the farmers. Nowadays the old distinctions are 
gone and the common people mingle as elsewhere, 
with little which is distinctive in life or thought. 

The first impression is that the artisans are skil- 
ful, careful, and trustworthy. The second is that 
they are careless, idle, and ready to take advant- 
age of ignorance or a want of vigilance. It used 
to be said among foreigners that one perilled his 
soul's salvation if he attempted to build a house, 
and that no one was such a saint that he could 
build two without losing all claim to heaven. For 
example, after a severe earthquake, in a time of 
rain, the tiles on the roof were displaced, and the 
entire interior of the house was threatened in case 
of a shower. A messenger was sent post-haste 
for the carpenter. L,ate in the afternoon he came 
and heard, patiently, the story of the damage 
done. The second day he appeared and deposited 
a ladder; the third day he put the ladder against 
the house, ascended it, and inspected the injured 



The Common People 191 

place, and finally, on the fourth day the work 
began. 

An addition was to be built, and one noticed 
w 7 ith interest the procedure. A contract had been 
made with a responsible man, so that our interest 
was merely in the fashion of the workman's life. 
Leisurely, at eight o'clock or thereabouts the men 
assembled, made a fire of chips, heated water, pre- 
pared their tea, smoked their pipes, and then be- 
gan. After an hour and a half of steady work 
they stopped, started up the fire, drank a cup of 
tea, smoked a pipe, and then went back to work. 
At noon they took a full hour for rest and lunch, 
with another pause for tea and smoke in the mid- 
dle of the afternoon, and an early stop for the 
night, gathering around the fire once more for 
another cup and another pipe before they parted. 

Bad material, bad workmanship, extortionate 
prices are as common as elsewhere, perhaps not 
more common, notwithstanding the protests of 
foreign residents who are sure the Japanese are 
without rivals in delays and carelessness and 
general unreliability. So much we allow for the 
debit side of the account, and for the credit ? 

If one will exercise thorough patience, and 
possess expert knowledge, if he will be as nice in 
his choice of men as in his native land and will be 
as ready to pay large sums for fine work he can 
procure results almost unrivalled. It is a mis- 
taken notion which is the cause of many difficul- 
ties that fine work in Japan is cheap, and that the 



19 2 Japanese Life 

ordinary workman is to be trusted implicitly. But 
the ordinary workman in Japan is like his fellow 
everywhere, and the extraordinary workman in 
Japan is also like his fellow, unusual by definition, 
difficult to discover, and when discovered con- 
scious of his own value, and we may add, worth 
the estimate. When we get over the notion, once 
for all, that there is an inherent difference in psy- 
chology, and that the Japanese is something mys- 
terious for either good or evil, and come to deal 
with him as with our common humanity, we find 
sure ground, and get on at once. 

Japanese houses for the most part are flimsy in 
construction, with almost nothing beyond a super- 
ficial cleanliness and an artistic simplicity to rec- 
ommend them. The wood of which they are made 
is badly seasoned and full of knots, the floors are 
covered with thick mats, so that the boards are 
left unmatched, with unfilled knot-holes, and gen- 
erally untidy and unformed as if anything would 
do. Then the finish is given in paper, or plaster, 
and a little fine-grained wood is carefully chosen 
as ornament. Possibly the common fires have had 
to do with the miserable construction, it being a 
kind of insurance to put into the dwelling no 
more expense than would be covered by a few 
years' rent. 

When a different fashion is required it can be 
furnished, but with these requisites, — unlimited 
time, unlimited patience, and a seemingly dispro- 
portionate disbursement of funds. For good work, 



The Common People 193 

as already indicated, is expensive and is in demand 
only by the rich. Yet when all is said, there is 
still a balance on the side of the Japanese, for even 
the cottages, miserable as they are, have an ap- 
pearance which does not grievously offend. When 
one thinks of the rows of cottages in many factory 
towns in the West, without a touch of beauty, un- 
graceful, gaunt, disorderly, even the tiny cottages 
of Japan seem attractive in the comparison. They 
at least do not offend the eye, and if they are not 
built for ages, the}^ cost little to construct, little 
for rent, and serve their purpose before they reach 
their predestined end and go up in flame and 
smoke. 

When the work is fine, it is extremely good, 
and very costly. I remember a villa in the sub- 
urbs of Tokyo which belonged to a wealthy mer- 
chant. It was large, and yet in general form and 
fashion was like any Japanese house, but the pains 
which had been taken and the expense incurred 
were incredible. Thus, the wood in the different 
rooms differed in kind, and in each the exposed 
framework was absolutely of a colour and a grain. 
The timbers which supported the floor above, run- 
ning around the room, had been so matched in 
grain that the lines seemed continuous. No less 
care had been taken with the garden. In its 
midst there was a hill, an imitation of a famous 
mountain, and the gardener told us it had been 
erected and destroyed fifteen times before the 

owner could be satisfied with the slope of its sides. 
13 



i94 Japanese Life 

In the ancient days the best artisans were ar- 
tists, and they were independent of the changing 
markets. Employed for life by the feudal barons, 
they worked at leisure and were under no tempta- 
tion to substitute quantity of output for its perfect 
quality. Indeed, the tradition has it that in some 
instances, as in the kilns of the Lord of Satsuma, 
the workmen were told to break every piece which 
showed any flaw, as the entire output was for the 
Baron, and was used by him or given to his 
friends. Artisan and artist were indistinguish- 
able. Ornament was not essentially adornment, 
but it was the perfect formation of some useful 
article, made beautiful according to the canons 
of accepted art. For such creations time was 
essential, whether the work be in lacquer, in 
metals, in porcelain, on silk, or in wood. An- 
other fashion of work was common, when the 
main things were speed and cheapness, but even 
these productions had an artistic quality which 
could not be omitted in the workmanship of this 
aesthetic race. A foreigner wants so much for so 
much in such a time, and he can get it, of a most 
uncertain quality. But the transaction belonged 
to a commercial class, and the Japanese artisan of 
the highest order was not commercial but feudal. 
That is, like the samurai, he had his own ideals, 
and his own status, and his own way of life, and 
with these he was content, not being engaged in 
a scramble for more money or a higher position. 

An artist painted some pictures for friends of 



The Common People 195 

mine who were travelling. We discussed the 
subjects and the methods of execution, and left 
the painter to his own ways and times, the pic- 
tures eventually to meet my friends at home after 
their leisurely journey around the world. At the 
same time the artist agreed to paint a picture for 
me. Its theme was religious, — the original dis- 
ciples of Buddha after their attainment of salva- 
tion, — and its execution involved much detail. 
Iyong after, when the transaction had almost faded 
from my memory, the artist appeared with the 
picture, complete and mounted. His only re- 
sponse to my words of admiration was, ' ' I have 
put my heart into it." He had painted at his 
pleasure, when in the mood, and nothing w 7 ould 
have tempted him to work when the spirit failed. 
The sum he asked was twenty en, perhaps fifteen 
dollars at the current rate of exchange. He was 
not putting a price upon his work, but worked for 
the love of it, and the price enabled him to supply 
his simple wants. He lived in a tiny tenement in 
the rear of a shop, in a plebeian part of the city. 
His rooms cost him perhaps three dollars a month, 
and the rest of his living possibly ten dollars more. 
It was plain living and high art. So one would 
find the best workers in all the arts, in tiny apart- 
ments, in the rear of shops, with the suggestion 
of a garden, with the simplest wants, and working 
care-free at their ease. 

The artist, to whom we have drifted from the 
artisans,— for the first in Japan is only the second 



196 Japanese Life 

working for the love of his handicraft, — has his 
secrets and his etiquette. It would not be Japan 
if organisation had not been carried to the ex- 
treme, so there are guilds with dinners, ceremonies, 
initiations, and mysteries. Families hand down 
the secrets from generation to generation, and the 
art is more than blood or kindred. For if the son 
shows no skill or aptitude, then some promising 
apprentice will become the heir and inherit the 
name and the headship of the family, as of the 
guild or school. This accounts for the long lines 
of distinguished artists and artisans and actors 
and all the rest. It seems astonishing that so 
often for many generations, son should follow 
father in possession of high ability until one learns 
the facts and discovers that adoption takes the 
place of nature and supplies a son who can take 
the father's place not by the lottery of heredity, 
but by the surer selection of long training and 
years of test, the ablest coming to the fore. 

In such an atmosphere, where the thing is more 
important than the man, it is difficult to distin- 
guish the original from the copy. For as the 
secret of the art is handed down, and, as time 
passes, its preservation becomes all important, al- 
most a religious rite, copying becomes a fine art. 
Originality disappears, and generation follows 
generation in the well-worn path. When now an 
original is desired and not a copy, it, too, can be 
produced, with all the marks of age, and as such 
desires become common it is easy to supply the 



The Common People 197 

demand, so that one may have originals so long 
as his desires and his purse hold out. If one 
knows the trick there is no concealment, but the 
visitor will be shown the process in the shop, and 
one may buy his antique in the making. 

Showing some friends one day through a well- 
known shop in Tokyo, while they were employed 
in looking at a variety of articles I strolled around 
the place and the proprietor called my attention 
to a peculiarly beautiful bronze antique. I know 
nothing of bronzes, but drew my bow at a venture, 
remarking, " Yes, it is very beautiful, but I prefer 
something which shows plainly that it is new. 
For I fear this preparation which gives the antique 
appearance will show wear, and the effect will be 
ludicrous." And he replied, " You need not hesi- 
tate on that account, for the preparation is so 
good that before it wears off the vase will be really 
old." So if in a commercial age people want 
things for fictitious purposes and at fictitious 
values they can be produced in quantity, in haste, 
with any marks desired, costly or cheap as you 
may wish, the work of artisans who meet a com- 
mercial demand. But if one wishes art in house 
building, in porcelain, in lacquer, in ivory, in 
painting, in gardening, or in silks, he must do as 
the Japanese do, wait in peace and pay as the 
artist works, with honour for honour, and respect 
for respect, and value for value. 



CHAPTER XIII 

MERCHANTS, WOMEN, AND SERVANTS 

APART from all these classes, and beneath 
them are the merchants. " There is such 
a thing as trade," said an old samurai to his 
pupil, "see that you know nothing of it, for trade 
is the only game in which the winner is dis- 
graced.' ' In a thoroughgoing feudal society, 
where personal gain was excluded, where men 
were to receive their daily portions and therewith 
be content, the man who sought gain was outside 
the pale of respectability. Merchants there must 
be, as there must be scavengers, but both are to 
be avoided and despised. With such a name it is 
not surprising that merchants came to deserve it. 
Trade was a game in which each sought to over- 
reach the other. 

There are a few great merchants, for the most 
part men who have held lucrative contracts for 
the Government. Arai Hakuseki has shown us 
how high-minded samurai regarded them in his 
day; and in our own, gentlemen can scarcely re- 
strain their wrath as they speak of ' ' Government 

198 



Merchants, Women, Servants 199 

merchants," who become rich from their con- 
tracts, and seek luxury at the expense of the 
people. As in Arai's day officials were supposed 
to share in the spoils, " so they divided the wealth 
of the people between them, ,, in our day also 
scandals are not infrequent. But, though the 
secret history of Japan would show how it has 
been possible for officials on meagre salaries to 
build expensive villas and to live like men of 
wealth, yet the evil has been kept within bounds 
and has not, as in the past, affected public effi- 
ciency. 

Besides the great merchants, there were rich 
money-lenders, who made loans to the feudal 
nobles. The rate of interest is excessive, ten per 
cent, per month being not uncommon. Many of 
these men lost heavily at the restoration, and their 
place has been taken by a system of banks organ- 
ised on the Western model. But here, too, the 
rate of interest remains high, showing the low 
stage of commercial development. 

With this change there is also the formation 
of commercial companies for steamships, mining, 
manufacturing, with a bourse, and all the modern 
methods for enriching the " public.' ' Great fac- 
tories, too, have been built, degrading labour by 
long hours, insufficient pay, and the employment 
of children; for public sentiment, which should 
restrain unscrupulous emp^ers and compel the 
enactment of proper laws, does not exist. Nothing 
is more threatening to the future of Japan than 



200 Japanese Life 

this sudden development of commercialism. The 
old standards are gone, a new appetite for wealth 
has been aroused, and thus far no corresponding 
sense of commercial honour has been developed. 
Probably nothing so injures Japan as its want of a 
commercial code of ethics. Certainly commercial- 
ism in our own lands is far from impeccable, and 
one sometimes smiles when he hears the Japanese 
especially denounced; but when all allowances 
are made it remains true that the Japanese are in 
universal disrepute, in striking contrast to their 
Chinese neighbours on the continent, and to their 
own reputation in all other walks in life. But in 
a commercial age like our own it is the commercial 
code which after all finally determines position, 
and unless Japan reform and bring to its commer- 
cial transactions the same intelligence and the 
same honour which characterise its other depart- 
ments of life it will bear a stigma which its friends 
will be powerless to remove. 

But our dealings are for the most part with the 
petty shopkeepers, and their behaviour seems vex- 
ing or delightful according to our mood. If 
shopping be a serious affair, to be accomplished in 
the shortest time, with the least expenditure of 
strength or money for the desired result, then the 
shops are a trial and a vexation of spirit. But if 
the shopping be an amusement, a fashion for 
whiling away an unlimited amount of time, with 
a fair chance of failure after all, set off by another 
chance of some astonishing success, then it will 



Merchants, Women, Servants 201 

be an unmixed delight. Ladies, foreigners, in 
Tokyo make discoveries of choice shops in unex- 
pected places and keep their situation to them- 
selves, like sly fishermen, or take some chosen 
friend in triumph and pledged to secrecy. 

To buy means to bargain, usualty, though there 
are shops where the rule is one price. But the 
difference between asking and taking is often im- 
mense; a vase for which twenty en was asked, and 
for which two en was bid, being sent in haste 
down the street after the purchaser, when she had 
told her jin-riki-sha man to go on, as she had no 
more time to waste. But not only is there bar- 
gaining, but sometimes a seeming reluctance to 
sell, as the price, having been made for a single 
article, is increased when you wish to buy a dozen, 
for that would exhaust the stock and put the pro- 
prietor to the trouble of getting more. And often 
the merchant has denied the possession of a cer- 
tain line of goods, until his customer repeats and 
repeats again her knowledge that he has it, 
when finally he sends his clerk and produces the 
article from his warehouse in the rear. 

Really here, too, the feudal notion still prevails. 
Only in exceptional instances is there enterprise, 
and the ordinary man is satisfied with his humble 
and uneventful life. All day long he sits upon 
his mats, with pipe and tea at hand, going through 
the same simple routine and varying it only on 
festivals or great occasions, when he shares the 
simple pleasure of his class, in theatre, or in 



202 Japanese Life 

gardens, or with a few friends he has a quiet din- 
ner at an inn. It costs little, he has no desire for 
more, he lives as his father lived, and as his son 
after him will live. And as to his customer, he 
measures him by a feudal standard too. 

In a commercial age we pay for what we get, 
and it does not matter who we are, or what we 
have. But in a feudal society men pay according 
to their place and possessions. Forgetfulness of 
this and the intrusion of American commercial- 
ism into Japan as if eternally right has accounted 
for much disillusionment. I knew an American 
woman who learned precisely the accepted rate for 
a jin-riki-sha from her house to the railway sta- 
tion, and more she would not pay. As a result she 
could get only strangers to serve her, and they 
never a second time; for only the poor paid the 
rate she offered and others gave according to their 
rank. The man who would willingly make the 
trip for the American's cook would not stir for 
herself at the same rate. A Japanese gentleman 
pays twice or thrice the rate his servant pays, or 
feels himself disgraced. So, too, at the inns the 
foreigner in passing through the office notices the 
rates posted in plain sight: first class, thirty cents 
for supper, room, bath, and breakfast; second 
class, twenty-five; third class, eighteen; and feels 
offended when his bill is sent him for a dollar, but 
still, compared with a Japanese of rank, he gets 
off cheap. For when the Japanese enters his 
room the maid brings him tea and cakes, and he 



Merchants, Women, Servants 203 

puts his tea money on the tray. Soon she returns 
with a receipt for the tip from the master of the 
house. The amount of the tip shows the estimate 
the guest puts upon himself and the amount of 
service he expects. With a charge of thirty-five 
cents first class, a gentleman may put down two 
dollars for tea money, if he be extravagant, and 
then on his departure tip all the servants in ad- 
dition, or he may give any less sum, even ten 
cents or five. The treatment varies with the tip, 
but, after all, one thus pays not for what he gets 
in room or bath or food, but for courteous consid- 
eration and the respect due to him as a gentleman. 
The same custom has obtained in shops, so that 
well-known men sometimes avoid the districts 
where they live and make their purchases else- 
where, and save at least fifty per cent, by their 
trouble. For as all Japanese social life is arranged 
on the basis of distinctions and differences, even 
the language not permitting the same word to 
superior and to inferior, why, then, should com- 
merce be the sole exception and men pay only and 
strictly on the basis of what they get ? It savours, 
to the Japanese, of selfishness. One man has more 
money than another, not that he may be more 
luxurious, but that he may support a larger num- 
ber of his fellow-men. So was it in feudal times: 
when a samurai got an increase in pay it did not 
mean that he should have more ready money, 
nor that he should lay up a store against illness 
or old age, but that he should have a larger house 



204 Japanese Life 

and a greater retinue of servants, and thus pro- 
vide a livelihood for a greater number. Accord- 
ing to the political economy of feudalism this is 
the proper use of an increased income, and accord- 
ing to feudal ethics any other course is inspired 
by selfishness, and is evidence of a meanness 
which invites contempt. 

We have described the fashions of payment in 
an inn, — perhaps we may spend a night in one. 
Nowhere has the art of innkeeping been more 
studied, yet it is of late date, for inns were built 
first for the accommodation of the feudal nobles 
and their trains on their procession to and from 
Yedo, in the Tokugawa days. In the earliest 
times none would entertain a stranger, and even 
the sick were left to perish in the open, so that 
travel was difficult and dangerous. Now they 
are to be found in all parts of the Empire, and are 
of all degrees of excellence, but, for one who is 
inured to Japanese life and can do as the natives 
do, there is a charm about the best of them. 
After three or four days in the mountains and a 
final day of many miles of hard and lonely walk- 
ing, ending with twenty-five miles or more in a 
jin-riki-sha^ I am rolled up to the gateway of the 
most famous inn in one of the most popular re- 
sorts overlooking the Inland Sea. Instantly I 
am loudly greeted from within, and a moment 
later a group of servants with the host warmly 
bid me welcome. I sit on the narrow veranda, 
and remove my shoes; then as a small tub of 



Merchants, Women, Servants 205 

warm water is brought at my request I wash my 
feet and enter. Passing the kitchen, which is in 
front and serves as office, I notice that the rate, 
first class, is thirty-five cents. The maid takes me 
past a court in which there is the suggestion of a 
garden, a tiny pond and carp, with shrine and 
bridge and tree, to a long suite of rooms in the 
rear looking off over a rich landscape to the dis- 
tant sea. I seat myself upon a cushion; the maid 
disappears, and returns soon with a teapot and 
cup and a dish of cakes upon a tiny tray. I drink 
the tea ad libitum, eat the cakes, and chat with 
the maid. To-day I am tired, hungry, and shall 
be extravagant, so when I have finished I put a 
dollar on the tray for tea money. She thanks me, 
withdraws, and soon returns with a receipt from 
mine host. 

Now she makes my room by putting up screens 
in the little groves which separate the space cov- 
ered with mats, and as the walls are thus formed 
on two sides my room is lined with pictures in 
gold, the floor is covered with fine white mats 
hedged with red silk. The alcove by the place 
of honour forms a third side, and it has a bronze 
vase with a plum branch, for it is early spring. 
The fourth side has translucent slides, and push- 
ing them aside I look out towards the sea. By 
and by the maid comes again and asks if I will 
have a bath. I ask if it is ready, and she says, 
" No, it is not hot enough." Then I ask if I am 
the first guest to arrive, and she says, " Yes." 



206 Japanese Life 

So I ask her to put in some cold water and to let 
nie go at once, as foreign flesh cannot stand the 
heat of their hot baths, and guests take prece- 
dence, using the same bath in order of arrival. 
She laughs at that and goes to put in the cold 
water, and coming back brings bath-robe and 
towels. The bath chances to be slightly retired, 
and not in the centre of the most open space, as is 
common. I find it still hot enough to take away 
my breath as I get in and shiver from the heat, 
but the maid cries out: " I '11 heat it up, and 
make it warm, for I know you are too cold." 
After a little hot water and tubs of cold I go back 
to my room, and dinner is served. Three little 
tables in succession appear, soup, four kinds, and 
fish — also four varieties — and a bit of game with 
the Japanese sauce shoyu, and rice from a wooden 
tub with bamboo sprouts, and lily roots, and tea. 
It is a dinner for an epicure, and takes away the 
last traces of the evils of the day, and makes the 
traveller supremely content. 

After a smoke I clap my hands and ask for my 
bed, telling the maid that foreign bones are soft 
and that I must have an unusual number of quilts. 
vSo she brings in three or four and heaps them 
upon the floor. They are stuffed with cotton and 
covered with silk. When I have spread my sheet 
over them, my one foreign weakness, it is a bed 
restful for the weary traveller. Another quilt is 
drawn over me and I sink off to sleep. The lamp 
has been put out, but an old-fashioned Japanese 



Merchants, Women, Servants 207 

lantern takes its place, which burns bad- smelling 
vegetable oil in a little basin with the wick just 
peeping over the side. Close by my pillow — that 
happens to be my coat rolled up, for the Japanese 
head-rest must be mastered young, like golf — is 
the tobacco tray, as one smokes on waking up at 
night. And indeed if one awakes at night he will 
hear from some portion of the inn the tap of the 
metal pipe on the side of the bamboo receptacle 
for ashes, showing the commonness of the custom, 
and the necessity for the provision. 

The inn at night leaves much to be desired, 
provided one has not acquired Oriental nerves, 
for every sound is audible throughout, as the 
rooms are separated only by paper screens, and 
there are people, Occidentals, who object to rooms 
without doors or windows or locks, enterable on 
any side by pushing back a smoothly moving 
slide. But in my experience in Japanese inns I 
suffered no inconvenience from this peculiarity, 
save once, and that was my own fault. 

Karly in my residence, while I was acquainted 
still only with town-bred Japanese, I crossed the 
bay of Tokyo in a junk with a Japanese friend 
to hold a service in a country town. Arriving at 
eventide my friend took his bath, we had our sup- 
per, and waited for the congregation to assemble. 
The meeting was to be in the inn, its broad ex- 
panse of mats offering the largest accommodation. 
At eight o'clock, no one appearing, my friend 
said he would go up the street and soon be back. 



2o8 Japanese Life 

At nine o'clock no one had yet appeared nor had 
my friend returned. At half after nine I was still 
alone, and, sleepy from my day on the bay, and 
thinking our notices had gone astray and that the 
meeting would be the following day, I called the 
maid, had the slides put in place, the quilts on 
the floor, and soon was comfortably disrobed and 
in my resting-place. Hearing a slight noise, I 
looked up, and saw to my dismay the slides 
pushed back and the congregation seated and 
filling the inn. I was apparently the only one at 
all disturbed or surprised, they doubtless think- 
ing my reception one more foreign peculiarity. I 
had not learned that in the country hours are later 
than in town, and that ten o'clock is not an 
unusual hour for meetings. The peasants will 
sit for hours and listen to discourse after discourse. 
I have been asked to preach three consecutively, 
— not a proof of my eloquence but of their endur- 
ance, — helped, it is true, by cups of tea and cakes 
and tobacco. 

Sometimes arrivals are late and departures 
early. I have spent the night at inns where there 
were only two or three hours of quiet, and where 
one wondered how the servants stood the strain of 
such continuous late and early hours. Very often, 
too, especially in summer time, fleas in abundance 
emerge from their hiding-places, the straw-stuffed 
mats being just to their liking, and attack the 
traveller. One could tell large stories on this 
theme. 



.. } r 


1 : 








Merchants, Women, Servants 209 

But this night, near the inland sea, neither late 
arrivals nor insect foes disturbed our slumbers, 
and in the morning, after tea and rice, with fish 
and eggs, we took our leave, not forgetting a 
small present to the maid. Our host with all his 
retinue followed us to the gate, bidding us a 
happy journey, and at the farthest corner of the 
town as we turned out upon the highway to the 
port were our hostess and our maid, bowing deep 
salaams, and shouting their farewells. 

Would one see Japanese life in its simplicity, he 
should visit any of the innumerable resorts in the 
mountains. Bathing in hot water has had high at- 
tractions from the earliest times, possibly because 
nature has provided facilities so abundantly. Al- 
most every district has its resort, where the hot 
water rushes out of the earth and at the expense 
of piping supplies endless opportunity for pleasure 
and healing. 

Around the spring villages are built, in pictur- 
esque confusion, often clinging to the mountain- 
side, the foundations of one house level with the 
roof of the next, with narrow lanes and winding 
walks thickly lined with cottages as if land were 
priceless in value, with the population as dense as 
in the metropolis. Sometimes the houses are in a 
valley, with a single street, and the hot water led 
in pipes of bamboo down its centre. 

One may provide himself, as he will, with 

rooms only, bringing his own servants and food, 

or, as with the poorer people, cooking his own 
14 



2io Japanese Life 



meals. This need be his only expense, save the 
tiniest fee for the bath. It occupies some promi- 
nent position, preferably the middle of the street, 
and the custom is for men and women to make 
their toilets in their rooms and then walk to and 
from the bath in complete unconsciousness of any- 
thing surprising or immodest. Or one may find 
an expensive suite of rooms in some fine inn, and 
be furnished his food and all he needs with, pos- 
sibly, in these degenerate foreign days, a separate 
bath in private. 

The springs vary in temperature and in quality. 
There are some which are pure hot water, some 
which are redolent of sulphur, many which are a 
compound of strange ingredients, and some which 
are so very hot that even the Japanese need mercy. 
One, for example, much frequented by patients 
grievously afflicted, is of such a temperature that 
the unfortunates who must use it enter in com- 
panies at the sound of a bugle, and are cheered in 
their endurance by the attendant, who tells them 
every few seconds that only so much of their tor- 
ment remains. One very strange bath , of exception- 
ally low temperature, only two degrees below blood 
heat, has bathers who remain in the bath for two 
weeks at a time, sleeping and eating in the water, 
floating at night with a stone on their stomachs 
to keep them in position. Naturally these baths 
are chiefly for those who need them, but in many 
a resort the pleasure is the chief thing, and it is 
not unusual for the visitor to take six or eight 



Merchants, Women, Servants 211 

dips a day. But besides the bath there is little to 
do, no driving, no gatherings for afternoon scan- 
dal and divertisement, no balls, and no cards. To 
bathe, to eat, to rest, to play chess or go, to look 
languidly over the display in the little shops, and 
perhaps to make an excursion 01 two to places of 
interest in the neighbourhood exhausts the list 
of pleasures. Foreign visitors find their chief in- 
terest in tramps to waterfalls and mountain peaks, 
but the combination does not seem to appeal 
especially to the Japanese. 

He climbs mountains, too. We have already 
referred to the societies among the common peo- 
ple for the provision of funds for the needed ex- 
pense. So universal is the passion for journeying 
and climbing, for visiting sacred peaks and 
shrines, that I do not know another country so 
provided with admirable resting-places for the 
traveller. It matters not where one goes, how 
remote the district or how inaccessible the moun- 
tain, one is certain to find, excepting in the rarest 
instances, just what he (he being a Japanese) 
needs. Thus one may reduce his luggage to a 
minimum and go in faith, for such trips are not 
that one may display his fine clothes nor follow 
expensive amusements, nor make a laborious imi- 
tation of city ways, but are simple outings, with 
the pleasure of life in the open air, with new and 
beautiful scenes around one, without care or in- 
terest as to what the public thinks, nor so much 
as a wish to seem other than we are. And when 



212 Japanese Life 

we find our stopping-place for the noontime or 
for the night, we are not disturbed by some 
great public dining-place, nor do we pay for im- 
mense public rooms overdecorated, for which we 
have no use, but we have our room, where we 
and our friends can have privacy, sitting-room, 
dining-room, and bedroom in one. And, about 
the inn, is something on which the eye can rest 
with pleasure, a fine view from the window, if 
that be possible, or, at worst, the bit of a garden 
which is never forgotten. If we desire company 
we can have it; the people of the house are ready 
for a talk, and will make the opening. If they 
meet with a response, perhaps, if it be a time of 
leisure, all the company will gather around the 
stranger and ply him with questions about Tokyo, 
the place of residence written on his passport, or 
still more at length about his native land. 

One would not idealise or imply that all is 
beautiful. The tourist will find one night, likely, 
enough. There are rats which scamper over the 
thin boards composing the ceiling, and fleas in the 
mats on which one sits and sleeps, and odours at 
night in the unventilated rooms, and sounds from 
all the adjoining apartments, and late arrivals and 
early goers, with a menu without bread, or butter, 
or meat, or potatoes, or pastry, or coffee, or almost 
anything which pleases the Occidental taste. But 
as we look at things through Japanese eyes, and as 
to the manner born, we have yet to find another 
land where vacations are so rational and inex- 



Merchants, Women, Servants 213 

pensive, or where all the needs of the excursionist, 
for short trips or for long, for the outing of a day 
or for the longest journey, are so provided for. 
The land itself invites excursions as it invites hot 
baths, and the Japanese respond to both invita- 
tions with avidity. For no town is without some 
natural attraction within easy reach, a mountain, 
a waterfall, a lake, or at least a hill with a great 
grove and temple, or, if there be not time for these, 
then the never-failing gardens, with their succes- 
sion of changing charms. 

Yet Japanese enjoyments are not wholly of 
these quiet and idyllic kinds. Twice a year in 
Tokyo are two weeks of wrestling matches, when 
the champions of East and West defend their titles 
against all comers, and finally engage in a strug- 
gle with each other for the supremacy of Japan. 
The sport goes back to the remotest antiquity and 
has always been held in honour. This is the 
more noteworthy, as the career of an actor has 
been held in contempt, and its exemplars have 
been denied the common rights of men. The 
relative positions are indicated by a story told of 
the champion who, invited to feast with the great- 
est actor in Japan, in the modern era, offered him 
a cup of tea, putting it on his foot and so lifting 
it instead of proffering it with his hand. The 
actor affected not to see the cup and ignored the 
affront. 

When the wrestling festival is on, multitudes 
assemble at the temple and make holiday. The 



214 Japanese Life 

wrestlers are of immense size, and, contrary to all 
our notions of training, put on flesh. They grip 
each other and strain and push. A fall is gained 
when one is forced from the ring, or if any part 
of his body, except his feet, touch the ground, 
and it has not been unusual for men to be killed 
in the contest. Sometimes a champion meets op- 
ponents in succession, and wins his position at the 
top only b} r defeating all. The spectators seem 
to forget their Eastern stolidity; they shout, ap- 
plaud, and throw gifts to their favourites, — money 
and clothes, and even watches. 

Of late years the students in the colleges have 
taken up baseball, with boat races, and athletic 
sports. But though they manifest great interest, 
still they have not yet acquired that serious devo- 
tion to victory and records and the championship 
which menaces our student life. 

Nor are public contests disfigured by betting. 
Indeed gaming is forbidden by law, and although, 
as everywhere, it more or less prevails, yet it takes 
its place among forbidden things and is not widely 
prevalent, for, in striking contrast to the Chinese 
and Siamese, the Japanese are not a gambling 
people. 

Nor are they drunken. There are sake shops 
in abundance, and far more than enough is drunk, 
There are drunkards, too, and one sees, first and 
last, a large number of drunken men on the streets, 
though I do not remember seeing a drunken 
woman. But none the less, the people are not 




WRESTLERS WAITING FOR THE SIGNAL. 



Merchants, Women, Servants 215 

drunken, and excess in drink is almost as rare 
as excess in eating. Opium is not used at all. 
Taught by the example of China, the Govern- 
ment forbade its importation and made its pro- 
hibition effectual. On the other hand, tobacco 
smoking is almost universal with men, women, 
and children. The tobacco is mild, not to our 
foreign taste, and it is smoked in tiny pipes which 
hold three puffs and answer a large purpose in kill- 
ing time through the labour of filling them. Three 
whiffs, then knock out the ashes, refill, and light 
again from the charcoal in the box, and continue 
at leisure all day or night. 

The great blot on the social structure of Japan 
is its treatment of women. We do not mean that 
there are not happ} r wives and honoured mothers 
and carefulty nourished daughters, for there are 
many such, but woman's status is Asiatic. As we 
noted in the earliest traditions of Japan a naive 
indecency, so when foreigners first came to Japan 
there was still a naive indecency. The records of 
the past are disfigured by a lawless yielding to 
passion by the men, and none of the heroes has 
been distinguished by purity. The standard has 
in part changed, and Japanese come to look at 
these matters through foreign eyes, adopting our 
notions, and yet the road is a long one to reforma- 
tion. Licensed prostitution has advocates inWest- 
ern lands, but it is most repellent in practice. The 
Yoshiwara must be supplied, and parents furnish 
their daughters, trading a child's life for a little 



216 Japanese Life 

money. That such a situation could be recog- 
nised by law tells the whole story and needs no 
comment. It is true the prostitute thus con- 
demned to a life of shame through no fault of her 
own, but by a parent's act, does not lose so com- 
pletely her position and her honour as does her 
sister in the West. She may still be visited by her 
parents, and ultimately return home. The position 
has even been idealised, as when the sacrifice of 
herself by a girl to gain sorely needed funds for 
a parent has been represented as righteousness, 
corresponding to the sacrifice of his life for his 
lord by the samurai. But the condition of pub- 
lic opinion which permits such sacrifice and does 
not condemn the parent for accepting the reward 
of it need not be described. The sexual rela- 
tion is regarded as any other natural instinct, to 
be gratified by men as freely and as promiscuously. 
In the earliest period of Japan marriage was 
merely the acknowledgment in public of a rela- 
tionship already formed in private, and a man 
might have as many wives as he could get or sup- 
port, for it was only the wife who was bound to 
faithfulness. And so now, the notion of chastity 
has not the connotations it possesses in Christian 
lands. The daughter owes obedience to her fa- 
ther. She is to marry, to become a concubine, 
to enter the Yoshiwara at his will, or to remain 
a virgin. She has no property in herself nor any 
sanctity which she may maintain against him who 
is her lord. When she marries she changes her 



Merchants, Women, Servants 217 

allegiance, that is all, and is subject now to her 
husband as before to her father. She is the prop- 
erty of a man, and if she yield to another, except- 
ing at her lord's command, she uses what is not her 
own, and father or husband may kill her. As in 
all Far-Eastern ethics, as has been said, the obli- 
gations are " perpendicular,'' from the lower to 
the higher, from inferior to superior. And the 
converse does not hold: the superior is not be- 
holden to his inferior. As the father gives no ac- 
count of himself to the daughter, so the husband 
gives none to the wife. It is enough if he treat 
her kindly and provide for her support. He may 
bring home a concubine if he will, or he may ab- 
sent himself at pleasure. Probably there is not 
even the attempt at concealment, for jealousy is 
one of woman's cardinal sins and she is early 
taught to avoid it. A youth would not conceal 
his first adventures from his mother, and from her 
would receive cautions only as to the danger of 
disease, or of infatuation which should impair his 
fortunes. The nation suffers in society, in the 
home, and in its physical condition for its violation 
of nature's laws. Once more we note that this, 
together with the want of commercial honesty, is 
constantly named as the deepest disgrace to the 
Japanese. 

Gross as is the evil, yet one does not see in the 
streets such exhibitions as in parts of London and 
New York, nor are the Japanese peculiarly pas- 
sionate. It is not the result of something inherent 



218 Japanese Life 

in their nature, but of the want of a different 
standard. In the long history, not Shinto, nor 
Buddhism, nor the unwritten social law, has 
taught the virtue of self-restraint and chastity, 
and the protests of men like Arai Hakuseki re- 
mained without effect. This relation of man to 
woman has been without thought of shame or of 
a different code of social life. Separated from the 
world it could continue as it began, but, brought 
into contact with the West, there are many signs 
that the "old order changeth, yielding place to 
new. ' ' 

With such a thought of woman, marriage is not 
the union of two equal persons, nor are husband 
and wife the chief parties concerned. It is an 
affair of families and it varies with their import- 
ance. Among common men, coolies and the like, 
it is of little ceremony or none at all, and is termi- 
nated at pleasure on either side. In higher sta- 
tions it is an affair of go-betweens and negotiations. 
When a husband or a wife is desired, a go-between 
is called in who understands the circumstances 
and promises to meet them. When an eligible 
parti is found, and the negotiations otherwise 
are complete, a meeting between the prospective 
bride and groom may be arranged. There may 
be one such meeting, or three, or none. Some- 
times the bride-elect goes to the ceremony wholly 
unacquainted with the face of the man who is 
to be her " heaven " and " destiny," for she has 
been too indifferent to take the trouble involved 



Merchants, Women, Servants 219 

in seeing him, and she knows her wish will not 
affect the result. When the contracting parties 
have important interests of family and especially 
of fortune, then the contracts are made with care, 
and divorce is correspondingly difficult. All the 
varied interests must be consulted in breaking the 
contract, as in forming it. The causes for divorce 
are so numerous that it can readily be obtained, 
save when these other interests are involved, and 
in such cases it is seldom necessary. For if there 
be no son a boy may be adopted or a concubine 
may be procured, and if tempers prove wholly in- 
compatible the two may live apart, the wife in 
aristocratic seclusion and the husband following 
his will. 

The marriage ceremony follows a prescribed 
routine. First is the negotiation through the go- 
between, then the mutual seeing if desired, then 
the betrothal presents, which are binding and 
final, then the choice of a lucky day for the wed- 
ding. When it comes the bride arrays herself 
in white, the colour of mourning in sign of her 
death to her home, and is taken to the bride- 
groom's house, where she drinks two tiny cups of 
wine with him and then retires to her apartment 
where her gown is removed and she is arrayed 
in clothes of his providing. Then she returns, 
drinks three more cups of wine with him, and the 
ceremony is complete. These are the essentials, 
though details differ greatly and sometimes vari- 
ous elaborations are added. There is neither civil 



22o Japanese Life 

nor religious rite, though under the new code there 
must be a change of registration and a record of 
the event. 

In most families the bride falls under the do- 
minion of the mother-in-law, who remembers the 
hardships of her apprenticeship and revenges her- 
self on her victim. Nothing, perhaps, is the cause 
of so much domestic unhappiness; so that the bride 
dreads not the unknown husband but the un- 
known mother-in-law. To the latter the husband 
owes first allegiance, and he gives over his little 
bride to her tender mercies, the newcomer being 
little better than a servant. She, wholly shut off 
from her own family, is completely one with the 
new relationship. Sometimes, however, the tables 
are turned, and the man becomes the victim, 
when there is no son, but a daughter. Then the 
go-between seeks a husband who will give up his 
family and his name and be adopted into the 
family of his bride. Only the strongest reasons 
can compel so unnatural an arrangement, and oc- 
casionally, the man, happier than the woman in 
like case, breaks away, refusing to endure the 
humiliation consequent upon this inversion of 
natural positions. Nor does the family care much 
though he go, provided the end has been secured 
and there is a grandson to perpetuate the family 
name. 

It is only of comparatively recent date that there 
have been family names. A few aristocratic 
names go back to the Middle Ages, Minamoto, 



Merchants, Women, Servants 221 

Taira, but most names are of places—Foot of the 
Mountain, Big Mountain, Foot of the Valley, 
Above the Moor; or, among merchants and arti- 
sans, the place whence a man comes may become 
his designation, or he may be known by his occu- 
pation. The formation of these names is still 
going on in the same line of development which 
has given us our own, though the names of trades 
seem more transient and not so prominent. But 
even a family name may be changed without cere- 
mony upon some eventful occasion. This hap- 
pens far too often in history, to the dismay of the 
student who comes without warning upon some 
one of whom he has not heard only to be told by 
his instructor that it is the same personage, as 
if Disraeli should become Beaconsfield, without 
note or comment. As a river is not conceived as 
an entity with substantial unity from source to 
mouth, but changes its name with almost every 
change in its varied course, getting new names 
from new natural objects and new towns and pro- 
vinces, so may it be with a man. For after all, 
in the Kast, the unity of the self is not the chief 
fact, but the varying stream of life. 

As with family names there are complications, 
still more with personal names. The individual 
has a "true name," around which a mystery 
gathers and which is used only on certain occa- 
sions of ceremony. Here is a survival of the 
widespread ancient belief in the power of a name 
and in the evil which may be wrought by one 



222 Japanese Life 

possessing it. So the boy has another name, which 
usually terminates in a numeral, indicating his 
number in a series, as a man in Toledo, Ohio, 
long ago named his sons, changing the family 
name, Smith One, Smith Two, and Smith Three. 
Sometimes a father takes syllables for the names 
of his successive sons which, combined, form a 
pun. The girls are named from flowers and trees 
and other natural objects of grace and beauty. 
But these names of childhood are changed when 
youth approaches, and changed again and again 
on occasions which demand commemoration. 
Besides, there are, as a matter of course, nick- 
names, and for authors pen names, and for artists 
brush names, with other variants making the 
subject sufficient for a chapter by itself. 

The servants have their distinguishing pe- 
culiarities, accounted for in part by the forms of 
society. The position in the household is not 
menial, but might be that of members of the 
family. The fact that the wife serves her hus- 
band and that he addresses her as he speaks to the 
other helpers does not perhaps indicate so much 
her lowly position as their well- recognised place. 
For with the ' ' status ' ' permanently established 
there is less need of self-assertion and of artificial 
insistence on superiority. Indeed personal service 
might be an honour, and in a feudal state direct 
attendance on a superior is the reverse of hu- 
miliating. Visiting an ancient school of the unre- 
formed type, the boys attended to all my wants, 



Merchants, Women, Servants 223 

and when I went away put my two jin-riki-sha 
men out of the shafts and drew me in triumph 
to the outskirts of the town. 

In a foreigner's household, the cook, as a 
Japanese told my friend, came first after the 
master, then the "boy," and then perhaps the 
mistress. In any case the men servants do not 
like to take their orders from a woman, and in 
important crises the master must be brought in. 
If one be wise, he consults the cook on most mat- 
ters belonging to the home. Thus if a new serv- 
ant is to be engaged let him engage her, or at least 
consult him, for if the newcomer — man or woman 
— does not suit him something happens; a parent 
dies, or there is some illness, or at least some mys- 
terious business which necessitates withdrawal 
shortly from your service. Nor can one readily 
find out the truth, for it is always simpler and 
more convenient and more satisfactory to invent 
excuses than to state the fact. The head servants 
do the purchasing and levy commissions, squeezes, 
on everything which enters the gate, though the 
master purchase it himself. The limit of the com- 
mission depends upon the master's vigilance. If 
time be more precious than money and ease than 
the size of one's outgoes, the limit is not readily 
reached. We have known households who cut 
the expenditures in two by insisting upon an 
itemised account once each week. But if there 
be ordinary care the gain made by the servants 
will be moderate, and no more than the extra 



224 Japanese Life 

price charged by a shopkeeper if a man of posi- 
tion attempts to purchase for himself. For the 
tradesmen must be watched — all articles are 
adulterated and short weights are common. If 
the servant can save his master from the clutches 
of the tradespeople, he doubly earns his squeeze. 

The servants are organised in guilds, cooks and 
" boys' ' and coolies, and, for all one knows, 
maids, their tradition of trades unionism being im- 
memorial, inherited very likely from the Chinese, 
who are past masters in this as in other arts. 

With service cheap, and with a race that loves 
its leisure, too much must not be expected in 
amount of work or punctuality. With servants, 
as with all else, it goes hard with the foreigner 
who attempts, as Kipling has it, " to hustle the 
East." Some time what you wish will be accom- 
plished, "when they get around to it," as our 
American countrymen say; tadaima (presently), 
as the Japanese express it. Perhaps one has almost 
or quite forgotten his command, but done at last 
it is, after a fashion. Very likely it is just as good 
a fashion as our own and the time suits just as 
well, for after a while one accustoms oneself to 
easy-going ways. 

A professor in the old university told me that 
the professors were always an hour late, and when 
I asked why they did not then put the hour for 
lectures sixty minutes earlier he replied, ' ' Then 
they would have been two hours late." With 
such illustrations in the centres of light and lead- 



Merchants, Women, Servants 225 

ing, no wonder that the underlings take life easy 
and work when the convenient season has arrived. 

For the rest, they are like servants everywhere. 
Some are good and many are indifferent or bad. 
Some are good-natured and lazy, and some are 
quick-tempered and strenuous. Some are neat 
and some are slovenly, some honest and some sad 
rogues, and, in short, all the varieties of human 
nature are shown. But when one is thoroughly 
fit, fond of his place, well treated by his betters, 
trained to his duties, he can make life pleasant 
for the household, and in his easy-going yet suffi- 
cient way smooth out the uneven places and make 
the crooked straight. He will be faithful, too, and 
hold to his mistress and master for years, following 
them whither they go and sharing their fortunes 
like the member of the family which he is. If 
occasionally he drinks too much sake and comes 
to his rooms a little roisterous, it is only on rare 
occasions and the vision of his master checks 
undue exhibitions of wrath or humour. 

The fishermen form a world by themselves. 
On a favourable day the bay of Tokyo is white 
with sails, and thousands of men gain their liveli- 
hood by gathering the never- failing harvest of the 
sea. Nowhere else, perhaps, is there a fish market 
of such variety and such unlimited quantity. The 
fishermen talk a dialect of their own, not under- 
stood by other folk, but they comprehend or- 
dinary talk when it is addressed to them. They 

live in huts along the shore, or often on their 

15 



226 Japanese Life 

boats and are, like all fisher folk, hardy, daring, 
cheerful, singing songs as they work, and appar- 
ently content whether the fish run or not, whether 
they are blown far out to sea or are snugly in port 
when the gales blow. In them Japan has an end- 
less supply of unexcelled material for its navy and 
its merchant marine. 

Possibly the most interesting form of their con- 
flicts in the deep is in Tosa. At a great head- 
land in the season they keep watch for whales, 
and when one is seen an army of fishermen as- 
semble in the hope that it will go with the current 
which sets around the headland and follows the 
coast-line. When this is the case, the fishermen 
launch their boats with a score of men or more in 
each, the boats provided with great nets of strong 
rope and large mesh. One is spread along the 
route the whale is taking and left to float. He 
sticks his nose in it, becomes tangled, but pushes 
obstinately on his way. A second, a third, a 
fourth and more are spread before him until he is 
thoroughly ensnared, and then, when he is wearied 
with his efforts to escape, the fishermen catch the 
ends of the ropes and tow the monster slowly to- 
ward the land, until at last, when he is securely 
in shallow water they finish him with spears. 
Then an orgy ensues, with drink in superabun- 
dance for the fishermen, as they cut him up and 
feast on his flesh; for in Japan the flesh of the 
whale is esteemed good food, my own experience 
recalling tough beefsteak fried in a sardine tin. 



Merchants, Women, Servants 227 

Besides the working classes there are parasites, 
beggars, and thieves. Both are organised, of 
course, for what can be left to individual initiative 
in Japan! The beggars have their king, their 
rules, and their divisions of territory and of 
spoils. Often forbidden, they still continue and 
thrive. Especially do they gather near the 
temples at festivals, hoping for their share of 
pious alms. On the great highway also they 
are in evidence, showing their sores and telling 
their piteous tales, precisely like their fellows in 
other lands. 

The thieves, too, have their guilds and their de- 
grees. There are pickpockets and sneak- thieves 
and highwaymen and burglars. Sometimes there 
is an epidemic of burglaries, the men entering 
houses at night, awakening the inmates, threaten- 
ing them with swords, and compelling them to 
hand over their valuables. The threats are not 
empty, for if the booty be suspiciously small they 
will mutilate or even kill the unarmed inmates 
of the dwelling. The pickpockets are especially 
skilful, and rival the feats of their most famous 
brethren of Western lands. Sometimes crimes of 
peculiar ferocity are committed, and of great ex- 
tent, as when a band of incendiaries repeatedly 
fired Tokyo, that they might find a profit in thiev- 
ing during the general confusion and alarm; and 
murders are sometimes committed in country dis- 
tricts with the object apparently of obtaining a 
few cents. 



228 Japanese Life 

The police are as clever as the thieves. We 
have known of articles stolen in Yokohama, dis- 
covered by the police and returned to the owner 
before they had been missed. In another instance 
a lady's gold watch was stolen and its loss re- 
ported to the police. Months went by with no re- 
turn, and it was given up as hopeless when finally 
it was brought back. Upon being questioned, 
the police explained that only that morning it had 
appeared in a pawn-shop, the thief having kept it 
until he supposed the danger of discovery was 
past. The detectives hold the pawnbrokers to 
strict account and keep the sharpest watch upon 
the Yoshiwara and other places where men go for 
debauchery. Often men are placed under arrest 
in Tokyo because they spend money more freely 
than their appearance seems to warrant and can 
not give a clear account of their funds. Almost 
certainly after a little, a description of some run- 
away comes from the provinces. So the prisons 
are kept full, for, to quote Confucius, under all 
governments the supply of rats and thieves does 
not fail. 

The police are from the samurai class and they 
magnify their office, combining with their execu- 
tive functions a power of inquisition which is half 
magisterial. Their control of a crowd verges on 
the magical, for still the old awe of authority ob- 
tains. A slight cord stretched across a street will 
hold back a vast crowd, and a few officers with a 
gesture can control a multitude. When the Em- 



Merchants, Women, Servants 229 

peror gave the Constitution to the Empire in 1889, 
he drove out of the Imperial Palace gates in a 
carriage with the Empress by his side. The crowd 
was immense, and after the procession had passed 
it flowed in a mighty stream towards the bridges 
leading across the moats, and as it approached 
the gateway it came together with a constantly in- 
creasing pressure. In the midst of a crowd were 
a foreigner and his wife in a jin-riki-sha. The 
police saw the evident distress on the face of the 
lady and, without any request, told her they 
would see her safely out. They whipped out 
their swords, and in a moment there was a clear 
lane between the solid ranks, down which the 
jin-riki-sha was pulled by the two coolies in per- 
fect ease and safety. How it was possible for so 
dense a mass to follow so perfectly the word of 
command remains a mystery. 

Nor will the police accept of gifts. A friend, 
feeling his indebtedness to the policemen on his 
station, — they had a tiny house just at his corner, 
— sent them a steaming pot of coffee with some 
simple articles of hot food on a cold and stormy 
night, only to have it returned with the message, 
" We are not permitted to accept gifts.' ' So he 
appealed to the higher authorities and, gaining 
permission, made a custom of sending in refresh- 
ments on especially cold or stormy nights. Still 
less are the police accessible to bribes or gifts of 
money, though they are paid only a pittance, the 
ordinary patrolman getting not more than eight 



230 Japanese Life 

dollars a month. Yet they feel themselves worthy 
of their name and blood and like their ancestors 
are a part of the Government. 

It is one of the illusions of foreigners that 
fashions do not change. As they will tell you 
that all Japanese look alike, and even that China- 
men cannot be distinguished from Japanese when 
clothed alike, so the customs of the people from 
year to year, and in all localities look unchang- 
ingly the same. But not to the Japanese himself, 
to whom the trifling differences assume a larger im- 
portance than does the unchanging mass. Fashions 
change in Japan also, if not as in our modern days 
yet as in the same state of society in Europe in 
the past. For fashions change most rapidly when 
they are the changing badge of wealth, and when 
social status ebbs and flows and people are known 
by what they wear. But when the status is fixed, 
and people do not wish to change their state or 
their rank or to seem other than they are, then, 
since there is no danger of mistaking rank, fash- 
ions change only in details, slowly, or in trifles. 
In Japan the fashions in their essentials have re- 
mained or have changed only with really chang- 
ing needs. The fashion of the hair which had to 
do with the warriors' head-gear has gone wholly 
out in our day of peace, or of unarmoured war. 
The man of official rank wears his clothes in for- 
eign style, as becoming modern tasks, though he 
returns to his native undress costume for his 
hours of ease. But apart from such great changes, 




A RESTING-PLACE IN THE MOUNTAINS. 



Merchants, Women, Servants 231 

apparent to all eyes, there are smaller changes: 
the pattern of cloth or silk procurable this year 
may be sought in vain a twelvemonth hence, and 
the way of tying the girdle, the pattern of the 
sleeve and the neck-gear, change with changing 
places and changing times. So, too, with the 
dressing of the hair: it is not only that certain 
styles belong to certain ages and may not be af- 
fected after some fixed date, but within the limits 
set by age there are variations, according to fash- 
ion's whim. 

Nor are costumes cheap; relatively to income, 
the Japanese will spend as much on the adornment 
of wife or child as does his Western brother, and 
the fine lady wears frock over frock, sometimes as 
many as six, each of silk, and each showing a tiny 
edge as she walks, her feet pushing aside the folds. 
The change to foreign fashions among women 
has been largely confined to court circles, and 
with a certain want of adaptiveness, at least to 
foreign eyes, has this advantage, that the woman 
thus gowned acquires with the foreign costume a 
consideration from the men that is wanting when 
clad in native garb. 

But besides fashions in dress, there are fashions 
in other things, fads, we should call them. Iyong 
ago, for example, in the beginning of the Toku- 
gawa days there was a craze for quails, and men 
paid large prices for fine or rare specimens, which 
were kept as pets. And in the modern era craze 
has followed craze in quick succession, animals 



232 



Japanese Life 



and birds and flowers, with bicycles, and boating, 
and manias for special kinds of investments, with 
now and then gigantic frauds. To be in fashion 
in costume and amusements is no other in Japan 
than in Western lands. 




CHAPTER XIV 



LANGUAGE, UTERATURK, AND EDUCATION 



THE life of a people is expressed in their lan- 
guage, and its acquisition is like getting a 
new sense by which knowledge is gained of a new 
world. The Japanese language belongs to a 
group of which it is the most important. On the 
continent Korean bears it resemblance, though 
chiefly in grammatical structure. Besides, there 
are the languages spoken in the little group of 
islands called Ryu Kyu (Loo Choo), to the south, 
but beyond these all regions have been searched 
for cognates without distinguished or certain 
success. 

The language is polysyllabic, and in general, we 
may say, the longer the word the more honour- 
able it is. For the distinguishing feature of the 
speech is its construction on the principle of a 
gradation of ranks in society, so that you and I 
and the servant and our friend can be distinguished 
by the words used in reference to each, as if, talk- 
ing of our abodes, I should say " mansion," and a 
little later " hut." The first, of course, would be 

233 



2 34 Japanese Life 

your home, and the second mine, and this entirely 
without reference to their relative size or costli- 
ness. So, were you to go to town it would be a 
' ' stately proceeding, ' ' while I should simply and 
humbly "go." When verbs and nouns can thus 
be associated with degrees of honour it is manifest 
that pronouns are superfluous. When I speak of 
" mansion " and " hut," what need of " yours " 
and "mine," especially as the same words in your 
mouth will indicate the opposite abodes ? Hence 
our common translation of the Japanese quite 
misrepresents it. They do not say, " your august 
abode,' ' or "your honourable tea," as usually 
they are represented, but the word itself, or the 
word with its honourific prefix contains simply the 
thought of ' ' you ' ' and ' ' yours, ' ' as the humble 
word or the omission of the prefix indicates "me" 
and ' ' mine. " So by and by, when use has blunted 
the edge of contrast, one speaks Japanese with- 
out a thought that his dialect is stilted, or that 
the pronoun is in any degree a more natural way 
of distinguishing "}r u" and "me" than are 
delicately chosen words. 

Then one wonders, at first, to be told there is 
no true nominative case, and that transitive verbs 
are not followed, of necessity, by ah object. But 
one soon finds the fashion simple, and its strange- 
ness has analogies. We were taught in youth to 
say, precisely, "I beg your pardon," but really the 
pronouns are superfluous, as who mistakes the 
meaning if we say, "Beg pardon"? unless, indeed, 



Language and Education 235 

there be confusion and it is not quite clear who 
committed the offence, nor against whom, w T hen 
one may say, singling out from an implicated 
group, "/ beg your pardon." So the Japanese uses 
simply the verb, "pardon," and a substitute for 
a pronoun only when there is really need. Ex- 
tend the instance to all verbs and we find we can 
dispense with multitudes of nouns. "Struck," 
"done," "sold," "dead," — even with ourselves 
emphatic and colloquial speech takes all the rest 
for granted; but in Japanese these are not ab- 
breviations of more than doubtful propriety and 
wholly undoubted want of elegance, but they are 
of the structure and nature of the speech itself. 
So that we may use verbs without subjects, and 
active verbs without objects unless, as before, the 
subject is in doubt, when we go round about as if 
w r e should say ' ' Concerning the Japanese Lan- 
guage, difficult." So we announce "concerning 
what" we speak, and continue without necessity 
of nominative, objective, and the rest in every 
phrase. 

Stranger yet are the tenses. The student learns 
his past, his present, and his future, and then is 
surprised to hear the past used of the future and 
the future of the past, until at last he comes to 
understand that the present is the real tense, used 
of all, and that his past tense represents certainty, 
and therefore is usual in the past, although his 
servant, foretelling his obedience, uses it unhesi- 
tatingly of the future; and that the future is 



236 Japanese Life 

uncertain, so that the cautious man uses it of 
something uncertain to his knowledge in the past. 
The present, too, takes on its real significance, as 
so often one hears a phrase like * ' It is that one 
has been abroad.' ' 

Naturally one gets on without gender for nouns, 
for English teaches us to do that unless, as in 
Japanese, for some reason the gender must be 
mentioned, when there are words for such real use. 
Number falls into the same category, for in cases 
innumerable it is sufficient to use the word, and 
singular or plural is plain without our indicating 
the fact. When the youthful student, accustomed 
to the complexity of our classic grammars, hears 
that the Japanese has neither number, gender, nor 
case he rejoices and thinks he has an easy task. 

After a time — not too long a time — he is unde- 
ceived, and by and by begins to wish he could 
trade some of his new complexities for the old. 
Sentences, for example, which can have no relative 
pronoun, but must put all qualifying words and 
phrases before the word qualified, become of a 
length and a difficulty which make him feel that 
the Japanese sentence, like the Japanese character, 
is past finding out. For the one rule of syntax is 
the one just stated, that qualifiers precede, though 
prepositions are postpositions. We can find 
analogies in plenty for clauses which condition 
without the relative, as we may say the murdered 
man or the man who was murdered, but the rule 
with the Japanese is invariable. Then, not to be 



Language and Education 237 

technical, nor to dwell tediously on a subject 
which is dry in the telling, there are all the fine 
gradations in nouns and verbs in the indication 
of the persons speaking, spoken of, or addressed, 
and the innumerable auxiliary numerals whose use 
is necessary, as if every word, or kind of word 
had its own numeral like so many brace of fowls, 
and, — but we shall stop, referring the curious to 
the excellent handbooks on the colloquial which 
will show in what unimagined ways our common 
humanity may express its common sentiments. 
Perhaps we may end with one further remark 
that though Japanese can in no wise be translated 
literally into any European tongue, still, once 
learned, it contains neither impossibilities nor per- 
plexities, and fits itself to the Anglo-Saxon psy- 
chology and expresses an American's ideas as 
readily as the thoughts of those to the language 
born. 

But when one has got so far he has just begun. 
There is the written language with its own 
grammar and vocabulary, for the two long ago 
diverged, and the unhappy student must learn 
both and keep both distinct in memory and use. 
Then, to make confusion worse confounded, there 
is the ever-present Chinese; spoken language, 
written language, and Chinese, and still, and ever- 
more Chinese. 

It is true the Chinese is an alien element. 
Roots decked out with Japanese terminations, 
governed by Japanese postpositions, separated by 



238 Japanese Life 

Japanese particles, are imbedded in the tongue, 
but follow obediently the order of the Japanese. 
Or one may be more ambitious, and turn to litera- 
ture, which omits more and more of the Japanese 
auxiliaries and order, and approaches nearer and 
nearer to Chinese until the latter is fully reached, 
and one by insensible degrees has arrived at the 
height of learning, and can read, or — rare accom- 
plishment ! — possibly write the foreign language 
in its purity. 

There has been reason for the predominance 
of Chinese, a preponderance which no change in 
the twentieth century seems to threaten. First, 
because in antiquity all literature, and philosophy, 
and law, and science, and theology came from 
China, and the language unlocked the great store- 
house of human knowledge. The classics were 
Chinese, the dogmatic authorities of the Buddhists 
were in Chinese, and the masterpieces of literature 
were Chinese. So the boy began the study, and 
the youth continued it, and the man completed it, 
so far as any human being masters the infinite. 
Naturally, after the fashion of students the world 
over, he filled his talk with the words and phrases 
laboriously acquired until the gentleman had the 
Chinese synonym for every native word at his 
tongue's end, all the better liked for being wholly 
unintelligible to the common herd. Strange 
fashion, — as strange, perhaps, as that of our an- 
cestors who used Latin in the same style, and for 
the same reasons, and to the same ends. 



Language and Education 239 

But besides the great end of learned speech — 
the mystification of the vulgar and the cultivation 
of one's superior self-consciousness the Chinese 
really has other uses. Never was there such 
another tongue for compounds: in comparison 
Greek is difficult and German clumsy. Japanese 
with its circumlocutions and its polysyllables is 
simply impossible, but Chinese with an immense 
vocabulary all of monosyllables fits the scientific 
terminology to a nicety. The Japanese form com- 
pounds expressive of all the meanings of all the 
technical terms in all the sciences, expressive, 
concise, exact. Again and again one is aston- 
ished to see how speedily and how precisely the 
product would be formed. Did one want so little 
as the name of a committee, " The Committee on 
the Revision of the Rules,' ' out it would come, 
Rules-revision-committee, exact, elegant, express- 
ive, brief. So in our day Chinese flourishes, for 
though the ancient classics have lost their vogue, 
and though students no longer pore for years over 
the masterpieces of literature, still compounds in- 
numerable one must know if he w 7 ould read the 
papers, or understand the conversation of gentle- 
men. Possibly the self- flattery of foreigners who 
know the language in its different forms — they are 
very few — is not without its warrant, as they say 
that, take it all in all, its native complexities, its 
foreign additions, its enormous vocabulary, and 
its immense demands upon the memory for form 
as the Chinese ideograph is learned, no other 



240 Japanese Life 

single job on earth excels for difficulty its mastery. 
A distinguished linguist used to say to young 
missionaries who wished pointers on learning the 
language, ' ' Stay twenty years and study all the 
time.'' Yet he, natural linguist and unrivalled 
speaker of the Japanese, had no eye for form and 
could not read a newspaper nor a page in a native 
book. 

Education in Old Japan, as will be readily under- 
stood, was studying Chinese. It is a vast wilder- 
ness which no man ever can explore, yet not a 
wilderness, for it is cultivated to the highest de- 
gree, as the enthusiasm and industry of a marvel- 
lous race have been expended upon it. In its 
higher ranges none ever calls a spade a spade. 
There is always some classical or poetical allusion 
which hints the implement. Milton at his worst 
is a mere tyro in comparison with a Chinese 
scholar in allusiveness, so that to understand, the 
reader must have Chinese poetry and history and 
literature and, above all, the classics at his com- 
mand. We never knew a foreigner who could 
dispense with the aid of a native scholar, and the 
young men, Japanese, of the modern era except in 
the most extraordinary instances cannot combine 
the new education with the old. In the olden 
times in the nature of the case it was easier to be 
a pedant than a scholar. All the training tended 
to check originality, and to destroy initiative. 
The rule was so rigid that the most the ordinary 
man could hope for as the outcome of his years of 



Language and Education 241 

application was the ability to write verses which 
should be technically correct. The writers on 
the "Way" lament the misdirected energy of 
men who run over a multitude of books, but do 
not fasten their minds upon principles, scholars 
of the eye, and of the memory. Naturally enough, 
for what else could be anticipated from the sys- 
tem ? So was it in Japan and so is it in China. 
The intellects of the nations were bound by a 
mass of traditions enshrined in a medium which 
had a semi-sacred character. We know how 
powerful is the influence of words in all education 
and how impossible it seems to escape the tend- 
ency to substitute them for things, so that the 
explanation of the word comes to be the explana- 
tion of the fact for which it stands. But with the 
Chinese system of education this tendency is de- 
veloped to the utmost. If one asks a scholar of 
the old type for an explanation he is almost cer- 
tain to reply by an analysis of the ideograph or 
an account of its history. When thus he has ex- 
pounded the nature of the symbol, he takes it for 
granted nothing further is required. This tend- 
ency is most extreme in the Chinese philosophy, 
in which the mastery of the words of most gen- 
eral import has carried with it the unquestioned 
belief in the existence of the things, and a com- 
plete realism of the mediaeval type is the result. 

Here and there some mind of original power 
escaped in a measure the influence of the sys- 
tem, but none ever wholly escaped it. So the 
16 



242 Japanese Life 

innovators after all stood well within the old 
boundaries and were unable to make such new 
departures as would create new epochs in philo- 
sophy, literature, or science. Thus, though we 
have differences corresponding to the distinctions 
between the nominalists and the realists of the 
Middle Ages in Europe, we have no such new 
outlook upon the universe as is given by the in- 
ductive philosophy. The Chinese, and after them 
the Japanese, never went at first hand to nature, 
but at third and fourth remove worked with ideas 
formulated in the past, and with their shadows, 
the shadows of shadows, the ideographs. In our 
judgment the want of greatness in such long pe- 
riods of history and the meagre outcome of such 
vast intellectual labour is not because of inherent 
weakness in the Far Eastern mind, but in the 
medium used for literature, and the unfortunate 
system of education which it involved. 

The literature which resulted was vast and 
complicated. The Japanese classify it under six- 
teen heads, in which we shall not follow them, 
remarking that the divisions contain nothing es- 
pecially strange or noteworthy. But when we 
turn from classification to contents there are re- 
semblances and contrasts to our kindred kinds. 
The histories are minute, prolonged, and deadly 
dull, and worse, they are untrustworthy. From 
the days of Confucius history has been regarded 
as a means for moral or political instruction, that 
is, it is morality taught by example. But if 



Language and Literature 243 

through the perversity of facts the past does 
not show the virtuous always successful and the 
vicious punished, what is the moralist to do? 
Why, make the facts fit the theory, for what 
should be surely is. So did Confucius, falsifying 
unhesitatingly his facts in the book which has 
come down to us under his name, mistakenly, I 
trust; and so did his successors, who were for the 
most part moralists or courtiers. Arai Hakuseki 
tells us that history should recount only those 
things which are to the honour of the men of the 
past, and a picture shows the Prince of Mito cor- 
recting the historians who were writing the great 
history of Japan, not, we may be sure, because 
they were not true to the facts, but because they 
were setting forth something which was not to his 
purpose or his taste. 

Dull as are the histories, almost duller to our 
notions are the romances. There is a long string 
of incidents without development of plot or analy- 
sis of character. Their value is to the historical 
student who may find in them material for the re- 
construction of times past. To the same class be- 
long the few books of travel, and of miscellanies, 
works which have their value to the Japanese 
chiefly because of the beauty of their style, and to 
the foreigner as showing the life and thought of 
the people — furnishing with the biographies and 
rare autobiographies material for the historian. 

Philosophy there is, following the mutations of 
the Chinese schools, but with no contribution of 



244 Japanese Life 

its own. Buddhist theology is in vast undigested 
masses, only a few tiny books of genuine Japanese 
material in it all, and there are Shinto works of 
late date in which, after the fashion of theological 
apologists the world over, the writers attempt to 
prove the undoubted divinity of their own notions 
and to confound the adversaries. Then there are 
cyclopedias, and technical works, and books which 
appeal to collectors of antiques and of curiosities, 
and all the multitude of works on subjects which 
belong to the history and the technique and, 
above all, the mystery of art. 

Poetry deserves a word, for it is almost the 
only distinctively Japanese production in the list. 
There is also Chinese poetry written by Japanese, 
but in some mysterious way the Japanese verse 
managed to hold its own. It is described by con- 
traries. In its pure form it has neither rhyme nor 
rhythm nor parallelism. Some poems are of mod- 
erate length, but the usual verse is of thirty-one 
syllables, 5, 7, 5, 7, 7. Evidently not much can 
be accomplished in the space, especially as short 
Chinese words are tabu, and the Japanese, as we 
remember, are polysyllables. But, moreover, as 
if the syllables were still too many, meaningless 
words are employed to round out the number, 
11 pillow words," on which the others rest. The 
poet in his narrow limits and bound by rigid forms 
can only make a suggestion, sometimes an ex- 
clamation, and let the mind of the reader do the 
rest. The poem hints at some natural subject, 





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Language and Literature 245 

the list is as limited as the syllables, and through 
it suggests a thought of life, or love, or death, or 
duty, or emotion, or beauty. The list shows by 
its limitations the powerful effect of tradition 
which prevents one from going direct to nature to 
see with his own eyes and to hear with his own 
ears; thus, though the moon, the flowers, the fall- 
ing leaves, the mist, are repeated over and over, 
with the flight of birds and the sound of insects, 
the stars are quite left out. 

As if thirty-one syllables gave too great lati- 
tude, a still tinier poem is made of seventeen sylla- 
bles, 5, 7, 5, a test surely of poetic ingenuity 
beyond the sonnet, for in these artificialities the 
East always can excel the West. And the style 
of education is perfectly shown in the fact that 
all educated men were expected to write verse, a 
task as valuable and as inspiring as the writing 
of L^atin verse by schoolboys in " enlightened ' ' 
lands. The illustration may fit a wider range, 
for, extend the discipline of Latin verse over the 
whole range of education, and, mutatis mutandis, 
you have the spirit and the method of Japanese 
education in the past and of Chinese in the 
present. 

But with the coming of the " Age of Enlighten- 
ment/' all has changed. If the people were to be 
educated it could not be in a system which should 
take as its idea the writing of Latin verse, and if 
the favoured few in earnest were to master the 
range of Western science they could not spend 



246 Japanese Life 

years in mastering the turns and phrases of the 
endless literature of the past. So, in the day of 
revolution, the old education was swept away and 
the ideals of the nineteenth century were intro- 
duced. A new literature springs into being- 
works of science, essays, novels, theologies, phi- 
losophies, translations, and adaptations of modern 
literature in Europe and America, with masses 
of reviews, magazines, and periodicals. The 
newspapers are many — partisan, often violent, 
frequently afflicted with the evils of our most 
* i yellow ' ' press, with scandals and libels pecu- 
liarly their own. Unfortunately the Chinese ideo- 
graph is retained: unfortunately, for it is prac- 
ticable to write the Japanese in Roman letters, and 
before the full benefit of the great advance can be 
felt the change will be made, else inevitably in 
literature Japan will lag behind. 

Every child must go to school when it is six 
years old. It learns to read the simple Japanese 
syllabary which is used for the uneducated, the 
Roman letters, and the Chinese ideographs which 
are in most common use. Besides, there is arith- 
metic, with gymnastics, a bit of manual training, 
and poetry. The tuition is paid in part by the 
parents, say four cents or less per month, and part 
by the State, the average cost of each school per 
year being less than three hundred and fifty dol- 
lars. As the teachers are men, sometimes with 
families, they are wretchedly underpaid with con- 
sequent inefficiency. Parents who cannot pay 



Language and Literature 247 

the little fee may have it remitted on application 
to the authorities and this becomes the rule, ele- 
mentary education being practically free. Evi- 
dently the education leaves much to be desired, 
and the child whose course of study stops with 
these primar} 7 schools — and the vast majority go 
no farther- — knows only how to read the simplest 
books, and to write the simplest letter, and to work 
such simple sums as may serve its purpose in its 
very diminutive accounts in later life. It gains 
no real outlook, no command over the instruments 
of knowledge, and no ideal for future efforts. This 
is true even if the child be favoured with a supple- 
mentary course of a year or two, at the section 
added to the primary school, for in it the work is 
still confined to subjects which deal with the 
simplest things in the simplest life. 

Beyond the primary schools are the common 
middle schools, where the curriculum embraces 
English, the Japanese language, a further ac- 
quaintance with Chinese, elementary mathe- 
matics, geography, history, physics, chemistry, 
drawing, and zoolog} 7 . Five years are given to 
these studies, and the number of students pursu- 
ing them is something more than fifty thousand, 
who constitute thus the lowest order in the intel- 
lectual aristocracy of New Japan. 

Finishing his middle common school, our stu- 
dent may enter a high school, where in three 
years more he can be prepared for the university 
or for special technical schools. In this higher 



248 Japanese Life 

course he carries on the work begun in the lower 
schools, fitting himself for his university much as 
in Europe, with the exception of I,atin and Greek, 
Chinese furnishing more than a full equivalent 
for the discipline of the dead languages. Accord- 
ing to the department he chooses, the student 
must now acquire a working knowledge of Eng- 
lish or German, or both. On graduation he can 
enter the university without examination, but the 
graduates are few, for only some five thousand 
students advance to entrance in this grade. 

The universities are two, one in Tokyo and one 
in Kyoto, the former only being fully organised. It 
has a large faculty, and more than three thousand 
students in six colleges: literature, science, law, 
medicine, engineering, and agriculture. In addi- 
tion is the university hall for graduate students 
engaged in original research. The students dress 
in uniform, and are in large part provided for by 
the State. The university opens to its graduates 
careers in the Government and in the professions, 
and fitly crowns the educational edifice. 

Besides this regular system, there are other 
schools, normal, technical, and private. Some of 
them have exerted power second only to the uni- 
versity, perhaps not second to it, for the graduates 
of the great institution established by Mr. Fuku- 
zawa are found in all the important departments 
of public activity profoundly influencing the 
course of events. Several of the mission schools 
also, notably the Do~shi-sha, founded by Mr. 



Language and Literature 249 

Nishinia, have been highly influential through 
the prominence and the activity of their graduates. 
And once more, a large number of young men 
have been educated abroad in the schools, colleges, 
and universities of America and Europe, there 
being clubs in Tokyo composed exclusively of 
graduates of foreign institutions. 

Education for women is not so far advanced. 
The proportion in the common schools is small, 
only five-eighths as many girls as boys. And in 
the higher schools the number grows rapidly 
less, even in comparison with the males. In the 
university there are none, but excellent private 
schools for girls have been established. In this, 
as in much else, the missions were pioneers, one 
of the best results of their activity being the in- 
citement of the Japanese to imitation and rivalry. 

Students as a class are only too diligent and 
are free from the pranks of Western boys. Yet 
none the less at times their teachers find them 
difficult to deal with. It is not only that they 
are impatient of the slow steps of the ordinary 
lines of our educational processes and are eager to 
reach the end at once, nor that their interest turns 
too lightly from topic to topic so that they are 
ready to leave one half-mastered for a new one 
just discovered, but more because they are hero- 
worshippers, and the supply of heroes is limited. 
So long, then, as their teacher retains their con- 
fidence and holds their imagination, he will find 
them docile and ready to follow where he leads; 



2 5° Japanese Life 

but the instant they find him out to be, after all, 
only the ordinary man, and when with this dis- 
covery they think they possess all which he can 
teach, rebellion follows. Moreover, the elders, 
themselves incompetent to judge the educational 
situation, support the students, so that time after 
time meritorious teachers, Japanese and foreign, 
have lost their positions because, through no fault 
of their own, their students in rebellion have been 
supported by parents and authorities. A funda- 
mental principle of government is this: that the 
superior man governs not by rules but by his influ- 
ence. If, then, disorder breaks forth, it is proved 
from the fact that he is not superior, and hence, 
even without error of his own, his place is lost. 

It has been customary for men to gather groups 
of students about themselves, the students dwell- 
ing in their houses and supported, perhaps en- 
tirely, by their patron, who lectures to them 
occasionally and oversees their studies and pro- 
vides them teachers. In a number of instances in- 
dividuals have established large schools partly on 
this plan and partly supported by the payments 
of the students. Even when the student receives 
all of his support in this fashion, there is little 
sense of humiliating dependence, but the feeling 
of a reciprocal favour conferred, for the man of in- 
fluence and position owes a duty to society, and 
the student has a claim, not only for existence, 
but for training, that he, too, may become a factor 
in the State. As the samurai for generations lived 



Language and Literature 251 

on allowances from the Government, and as in re- 
turn they were expected only to give their services 
as might be required, and as they were taught 
to expect the highest education for the mind as 
w r ell as the best training for the body, they came to 
accept all as a matter of course. Sometimes for- 
eigners have charged the Japanese with ingrati- 
tude because of their seeming unconsciousness of 
benefits received, and it is true that a Japanese 
may be taken into a family, treated almost like a 
son, and yet, at some later time leave, making no 
sign of thankfulness. Yet there may be gratitude, 
for let him feel that he has received training for 
the mind or soul or body which fits him for his 
place and he will carry the sense of his profound 
obligation with him to his death. 




CHAPTER XV 



TOKYO 



KYOTO is the representative of Old Japan; 
made the capital of the Empire in the eighth 
century, it was laid out after the Chinese fashion 
in formal regularity, and adorned with all the re- 
sources of art. After more than a thousand years 
it is still the most beautiful city in the Far East; 
but its life has departed and it is no longer a factor 
in the activities of the nation. Government, com- 
merce, literature, the interests of ambitious men 
centre in Tokyo, while the sister city has only 
the empty title " Western Capital/' the memories 
of the past, and the affection of lovers of the an- 
tique, the beautiful, and the unusual. It is the 
delight of the aesthetic tourist, and many regret 
that all Japan has not remained unchanged so that 
it might add its picturesque variety to a world be- 
come monotonously alike. 

But Japan does not desire to offer attractions to 
the traveller as her chief end, but seeks a worthy 
place in the world so that she will not be looked at 
as a curiosity, but will be desired as a friend or 

252 



Tokyo 253 

feared as a foe, — that is, the Japanese looks at life 
precisely as does the American. So he who 
would study the real Japan and know its purposes 
and powers must not linger in Kyoto, but must 
go to Tokyo. 

The town is modern, becoming of importance 
only in 1590, when Tokugawa Ieyasu made it his 
capital . He and his successors built a huge castle, 
and forced the barons to build mansions, some 
within the castle enclosure, and merchants and 
artisans to come from Kyoto and Osaka. Thus the 
town was furnished with inhabitants. The spaces 
outside the castle for the most part were filled with 
cheap shops and dwellings, of the lightest con- 
struction, with roofs of shingles, boards, or thatch. 
In the eighteenth century, tiles replaced the more 
inflammable roofing, and storehouses of mud fur- 
nished protection against the ravages of the con- 
stant conflagrations. A number of straggling 
villages were joined into a city, the whole mak- 
ing a tangled mass of confused, narrow, crooked 
streets without plan or symmetry. 

With comparatively few alterations, the town 
still retains these characteristic features, the names 
of the ancient villages remaining to designate 
different quarters and the same names of streets 
repeated over and over. The palace of the Em- 
peror occupies the centre of the castle by the side 
of the beautiful garden made for the pleasure of 
the Shogun : within the moats the mansions of the 
daimyo are replaced by the commonplace, modern 



254 Japanese Life 

structures erected for the departments of the Gov- 
ernment and for the Parliament: some of the 
feudal mansions scattered throughout the city 
have been destroyed and others have given way 
to institutions of the new era, one, Kaga, to the 
elaborate buildings of the universit}^ and another, 
Mi to, to the arsenal, with its ancient garden, 
which was planned by a refugee Chinaman, still 
preserved in its unrivalled beauty. 

The other changes are also utilitarian : the outer 
wall of the castle has been levelled and the moat, 
where the lotus grew, has been filled to make 
place for a tram; some streets are straightened and 
others widened, and one is lined with shops built 
in modified European fashion, and railway sta- 
tions are already a common feature of the town. 
But as one looks across the wide expanse of roofs 
from an eminence, or drives through the inter- 
minable miles of streets with the low shops and 
dwellings of grey, unpainted wood, notwithstand- 
ing electric lights, and postmen, and policemen in 
modern uniform, he feels that the talk of progress 
is exaggerated and that the town is now as it ever 
has been save that the picturesque features are 
gone, leaving only the commonplace. 

The tourist soon tires: the modern structures 
are not interesting, and for the rest the park 
in Shiba, with its mortuary shrines for the dead 
Shoguns, is at one end of the town, and the 
park in Ueno, with more mortuary shrines and 
the museum, at the other, and, besides, the 



Tokyo 255 

great Buddhist temple in Asakusa, the Shinto 
shrine at Kudan, the garden at the arsenal, the 
tombs of the forty-seven ront?i, — many a man has 
gone the rounds in a day, and many another has 
found two days too long and has hastened away 
to Nikko or Myanoshita or Kyoto in search of 
something more attractive to a man of taste. 

Yet is the town full of absorbing interest. It 
has its stories of the past with their enchant- 
ments of history and romance, and still more the 
throbbing life of the present, for here is the work- 
ing out of one of the most vital problems of our 
age. In Japan all ways lead to Tokyo, and 
hither come ambitious youth from the provinces. 
Here are the Court of the Emperor, the Parlia- 
ment, the heads of the Government, the most 
active politicians, the editors of the great news- 
papers, the men famous in literature and science 
and commerce; famous wrestlers, and actors, and 
jugglers, and geisha, with the tea houses and gar- 
dens everywhere talked about, and shops and mu- 
seums and all the activities and amusements of the 
past and present to be found by him who looks for 
them. They must be looked for, since there is 
nothing like the display and movement of a capital 
of one of the fourth-rate kingdoms of the West, 
no great park or avenue where one may see the 
world, or opera where society displays itself, or 
great social functions for wealth and vanity. New 
Japan has not had time to develop a world of 
amusement and of fashion. Society is official, a 



2 5 6 Japanese Life 

certain grade admitting to the presence of the Em- 
peror and ensuring invitations to dinners, balls, 
and fetes. These seem perfunctory, another duty 
to be performed, another foreign custom to be 
adopted, but alien to the real life, something be- 
longing to the new routine, like the uniform and, 
like it, to be discarded when the work is done. 
Even a garden party at the palace is like a thou- 
sand similar functions in other lands (gentlemen 
will wear frockcoats, the cards direct, in English 
and Japanese) save for a glimpse of palace ladies 
at a distance in brilliant Oriental magnificence, and 
the matchless beauty of the chrysanthemums; and 
a disquieting rumour reaches me that now not 
only the Empress but all the ladies of the palace 
on these occasions wear Parisian gowns. 

The new life does not yet adjust itself to the old. 
Two distinguished Americans were at a dinner in 
the Maple Tree Inn, a club devoted still to the 
purest ways of Old Japan (though the last time I 
saw it it had electric lights!), where they could 
neither sit upon their feet, being great of girth, 
nor find a chair. So they were put on the boards 
for go, eight inches high, knees level with chins, 
in evening clothes, with stockinged feet covered 
with napkins, for at dinner in society the feet 
should not be seen, but at the conclusion of the 
feast the napkins were clutched and waved in the 
air as the guests arose like giants, in cotton socks, 
to make a few remarks. So in a score of instances 
old and new do not agree, but it is not by the lu- 



Tokyo 257 

dicrous misfits of customs and costumes that we 
are to judge Japan. Nor yet by the old life which 
still remains. On the hills, a little withdrawn 
from the crowded streets of shops and common 
folks, are quiet avenues and peaceful lanes bor- 
dered with walls fringed with trees and vines, 
with elaborate gateways through which we catch 
glimpses of gardens and dwellings, homes where 
is a life such as we found in Kochi, though more 
elaborate, as befits the metropolis. Even if there 
be a foreign mansion the true home is in the semi- 
detached native dwelling in the rear, for Kyoto 
itself is not truer to the ways of Old Japan. 

Without formal society, associations are with 
groups of friends, in clubs, and tea houses and 
gardens for men, while the ladies are expected to 
find their friends in their husband's family and 
their enjoyments chiefly within the confines of 
house and garden. Such homes and pleasures re- 
peat the experiences of ages past, modified only 
slightly by the new era. Said the wife of a promi- 
nent statesman, in a time of great political unrest, 
when her husband's life was threatened and she 
never knew in the morning as he went to the 
Parliament whether he would return alive: "I do 
not know why his life is threatened, nor what he 
is contending for. I can only stay at home and 
pray and weep." 

Nor shall we find modern Japan in the amuse- 
ments or the pleasures of the people. The theatre, 

it is true, is in part reformed and saved for respect- 
17 



258 Japanese Life 

ability, and the people go third class in the rail- 
way trains, and not toilsomely afoot on pilgrimages, 
but still the great religious festival is in honour of 
a rebel against an emperor, a criminal remembered 
and worshipped for his strength and daring, the 
most frequented shrine is to the memory of one 
who killed himself and his mistress, while the 
Yoshiwara is the most famous place of amuse- 
ments, its establishments advertising in the papers 
and sending touts to meet trains at the stations. 
If one sees a procession, the firemen, or an asso- 
ciation of guilds, or, better, some great religious 
festival with gorgeous floats and fantastic images, 
and mummers, and throngs of shouting, pushing, 
red-faced men, or if, visiting the most popular 
temples, he observe how the worship of Venus is 
side by side with the worship of Buddha, or, not 
to continue the list, if one be present when the city 
is stirred as by the attempt upon the life of Count 
Okuma, and learns that the assassin had a dozen 
funerals, even a lock of hair being thought worthy 
of that honour, he shall think the "Age of 
Enlightenment ' ' only a name, and he may be 
inclined to put the nation into the class of un- 
changing Asiatic powers, with merely an especial 
power of imitation. 

New Japan lives and moves in none of these, 
but in the group of men who have guided its 
course in the last thirty years; not merely the 
statesmen in power, but the statesmen in opposi- 
tion, with the teachers and authors and editors 



Tokyo 259 

and scientists and great merchants and soldiers. 
Altogether the men are not many compared with 
the millions of the people, but in them and in men 
like them is the hope for the future. What they 
have accomplished the world knows. While I 
write comes the further proof from Manchuria 
of the completeness of their success on the field 
where fate knows neither Asiatic nor European, 
but victory follows the battalions which are best 
trained and handled. It is a marvellous achieve- 
ment, but it only illustrates what has been accom- 
plished in other departments of life and work: and 
we have patronised them, as if any one of us, the 
humblest foreigner, were competent to instruct 
and criticise! 

As the generals of Japan hold their own and 
more against Russia's best, so have its diplomats 
proved their equality with their peers from all 
lands. Years ago a friend who had exceptional 
opportunities for judging at first hand — a man 
who was not given to overmuch praise of the 
Government, having his personal grievance — 
said to me: "The foreign ministers are wholly 
unable to cope with the native statesmen. ' ' There 
were exceptions, but the governments were in 
grievous error which supposed that any one would 
do — any chance politician — for a mission to the 
Orient. 

The statesmen proved their qualities by their 
power of self-control and their patience. Not only 
their contemptuous treatment by foreigners invited 



260 Japanese Life 

haste, but still more the impatience of their coun- 
trymen. Again and again the nation protested 
against delay, a protest urged with the assassin's 
bomb and sword, and attempted to force action at 
once and at any cost. The men in control were 
called " opportunists ' ' without patriotism, princi- 
ples, or care for anything but the spoils of office. 
But they did not falter in their immense task, 
seeking to make Japan respected abroad and 
worthy of respect at home. They yielded to 
neither danger,— they did not follow radical 
counsels and act at once according to theory, nor 
did they give over effort and let well enough 
alone; but they persevered and were content to 
do the next thing as opportunity offered, a kind 
of politics best adapted to the exigencies of a 
transition. The leaders of the opposition were, 
like themselves, ready to take advantage of every 
opening and to use all means for the furtherance 
of their ends. So it has been easy for the parties 
to coalesce, not only in times of national peril but 
for many common ends. 

Politics are too much centred in loyalty to indi- 
viduals, so that it is easier to form groups than 
parties. Yet we may readily understand the 
great issues which have been the chief subjects 
of dispute. The first great movement after the 
overthrow of the feudal system was the with- 
drawal of General Saigo from the coalition, and 
the consequent Satsuma rebellion. It was purely 
personal, the outcome of disappointed ambition. 



Tokyo 261 

Then came the formation of the Liberal League, 
under the leadership of Count Itagaki. It de- 
manded the immediate establishment of a Parlia- 
ment with a responsible ministry after the English 
fashion. Allied with the Liberals in general aims, 
but often antagonistic in tactics were the Progres- 
sives, organised by Count Okuma. In 1889 the 
Parliament was established, but the ministry was 
made dependent on the Emperor, that is, the op- 
position declared, upon the bureaucracy. Then 
ensued struggles, with intrigues, and temporary 
coalitions, and accusations, and all the accom- 
paniments of modern parliamentary strife, and 
slow progress towards the goal, government by 
the lower House of the Parliament though a party 
majority. Only when the nation faces foreign 
foes is the strife forgotten, as all for the time are 
united by patriotic fervour. 

Important as is the Government and invaluable 
as has been its leadership, politics has been by no 
means the only field in which the intelligence and 
patriotism of the samurai have displayed them- 
selves. They have created educational institu- 
tions, and a literature, for the regeneration of a 
nation cannot be exclusively the work of the 
Government; and the orators, teachers, editors, 
and authors have formed the public sentiment 
which makes New Japan not merely the in- 
strument of a class of ambitious men but the 
true expression of the aspirations of a people. 
How completely this new life has permeated the 



262 Japanese Life 

multitude is shown in the war with Russia, which 
excites the passionate enthusiasm of peasants and 
of coolies, as of officers and samurai. 

The new spirit enters even the retired homes of 
the aristocracy, so that ladies take part in public 
functions; led by the Empress they hold bazaars 
for the support of hospitals, organise societies in 
connection with the Red Cross organisation, and 
take an active interest in the higher education of 
women. The men, too, give expression to the 
new spirit by societies for the promotion of purity 
of life and for the formation of higher ethical 
standards of living. New ideals are set forth and 
a more worthy social organisation sought. 

Even from the ranks of the common people in- 
dividuals prove themselves possessed of the spirit, 
the intelligence, and the capability of the samurai. 
For the gentry formed no caste distinguished by 
different blood or race, but were merely represent- 
ative Japanese, and the time may come, as Count 
Itagaki dreams, when the whole people will be 
their equals in intelligence as now in patriotism 
and rights. 

Kyoto contrasts with Tokyo as the past with 
the present. The former is beautiful, but it is 
finished; it is rich in achievement, but without 
promise for the future. It remains the joy of all 
who love Japan because it is so unlike the West, 
so unspoiled by crude minglings of Oriental with 
Occidental, so novel, so content, so apart from 
the strife and the aspirations of the modern world. 



Tokyo 263 

In the background one seems to see the inter- 
minable eras of the East: Japan in its beginnings 
with its belief in its land begotten by the gods, 
with its strange love for the marvellous and its 
worship of the mysterious, with its emotionalism 
and its artistic instincts not yet come to develop- 
ment: and to this was brought the religion of 
India, enriched by a thousand years of existence, 
by its travel through continents, and by the medi- 
tations and the fancies of millions of votaries. 
It gave to Japan the universe of the imagination 
and, instead of the narrow province of Yamato, 
extended existence through countless worlds and 
ages. It brought the philosophy of India and 
literary traditions. Combined with these were 
the ethics and the philosophy and literature and 
the civil organisation and the social etiquette of 
China. The East in its immensity and its vast 
antiquity served Japan, and Japan wrought with 
the material thus furnished, producing through 
its native genius the civilisation which remains 
unique and beautiful. 

The spirit of Asia has accomplished its mission: 
it has no further great gift to bestow upon the 
world. Man's mind, overpowered by nature, has 
failed to master it, therefore it has retired upon 
itself and has sought, in its own concepts, imagina- 
tions, retrospections, and hopes, to find reality. 
Had man no other methods and no other instru- 
ments this were his final achievement. Japan 
gives to us Asiatic civilisation in its most finished 



264 Japanese Life 

and perfect form, but it also shows us that with- 
out the introduction of new motives and the use 
of new methods there is nothing more to hope. 
The palace at Kyoto is vacant; its garden is the 
resort only of the curious, and its structure is the 
copy of numberless edifices which have preceded 
it. It is the monument of a completed history, 
but for the future men turn away from the rich 
plain, surrounded by great mountains, where the 
Japanese race so long found its centre, to the new 
residence of the Emperor, Tokyo. 

Tokyo is confused and raw. Its imitations of 
Western ways are inharmonious, and it still holds 
fast to much that is unreformed and even heathen- 
ish. But it is the centre of absorbing interest to 
all who hope and believe in the progress of hu- 
manity. Can an Oriental people take on the 
civilisation of the West, learn its science, master 
its philosophy, absorb its ethical and religious 
ideals and yet retain its own peculiarities so that 
the result shall be a new and vigorous creation ? 
Is it possible with such a history and with the 
vast influence of the ethical and religious environ- 
ments of thousands of years to start upon a new 
career which shall lead to a different civilisation, 
based not upon fancies or introspections, but upon 
the truths which science discovers and which 
modern men adopt as fundamental ? 

Japan has made a beginning, and I have tried 
to indicate what are the forces which work to 
so great an end. First of all, there is the native 



Tokyo ^65 



genius, impressible, emotional, eager, self-confi- 
dent; and there are the men of trained mind and 
self-sacrificing spirit, accustomed to leadership 
and in numbers sufficient to direct all departments 
of national activity, men with the mind to see, the 
will to choose, and the power to execute. Can 
Japan prove its right to hold the place it has won 
and to complete the task it has begun? Time 
only can answer, but the achievements of the 
present are the promise for the future. 

In the past the Japanese appropriated the civil- 
isation of China, assimilated it, and transformed 
it. Now none mistakes the civilisation of China 
for Japan's, nor supposes the art or literature or 
institutions to be identical. The world is richer 
for the intelligence and zeal which made Japan 
the willing pupil of its great neighbour. So shall 
it be again, — a new civilisation will replace the 
old, its principles and many of its forms from the 
West, but its spirit its own. It cannot be merely 
a mechanical imitation of any other social organi- 
sation, a monotonous and tiresome repetition, but 
it will be a distinctive growth, enriching the world 
by adding to its variety. On such an achieve- 
ment depends the future of Asia, for, as we have 
pointed out, the Asiatic civilisation, philosophy, 
and religion have run their course and completed 
their cycle. For their own sake they need the 
stimulus of contact with a different civilisation, and 
with differing forms of truth. It is not a question 
of choice between two equal forms of civilisation. 



266 Japanese Life 

In the Middle Ages a discussion of the relative 
merits of East and West was possible. It has 
become impossible, for the Occidental learns the 
processes of nature and masters them. Compare 
the long lines of carts pushed and pulled by human 
labour over terrible roads in China or in Japan 
with the great railway trains on an American 
railway, or a modern battleship with a Chinese 
junk. The Japanese understand the situation, and 
they only of the peoples of the East, and they 
choose freedom and self-government instead of 
submission to foreign rule, progress instead of 
stagnation, modern science instead of the meta- 
physics of the Chinese schools, And the West 
needs contact with the spirit and the thought and 
the art of the East. Only as these two so widely 
different civilisations, with such widely different 
histories and such widely separated environments, 
come together may we look for a new world-de- 
velopment, based upon the same common truths 
which shall form the foundation for progress, and 
be given independent expression in accordance 
with the characteristics of the varying nations, 
that mankind may have a future infinitely richer 
and nobler than its past. Many question whether 
such a result is possible, but Japan attempts the 
achievement. If it can succeed, China also and 
India will feel the impulse of the new life and 
will start upon a course full of promise; if it fail, 
doubtless upon the history of that vast portion of 
the human race which we designate as Asiatic 



Tokyo 267 



will be written ' ' Finis ' ' and the future shall be 
but a wearisome repetition in more degrading 
forms of the past. 

Meanwhile the Japanese think earnestly, not of 
these world problems but of their position among 
the nations; and they render us a service as they 
prove that the earth is not the exclusive possession 
of the white man, and show themselves worthy 
to be classed with the most advanced nations 
in science, in art, in enlightenment, and in war. 
They are not curiosities, to be prized for their 
novelties, nor are they inferiors to be patronised 
and governed, but they are men of like passions 
with ourselves, to be feared as foes and loved as 
friends, and to bear their part in the great task 
which was given men in the beginning i ' to sub- 
due the earth ' ' and make it the fit abode for en- 
lightenment, truth, justice, beauty, and peace. 




INDEX 

Ainu, io, ii 

Alcock, Sir Rutherford, 45 

Arai Hakuseki, his autobiography descriptive of life in 

Old Japan, chap. x 
Archery, 171 
Artisans, 190, 191 
Artists, 194-197 
Assassination, 169, 182 

Barons {daimyo, feudal lords), their origin, 25; become 
effeminate, 26, 35; Catholic barons engage in perse- 
cution and the feudal wars, 28-31; controlled by 
Ieyasu, 31, 32; won over to cause of the Restoration, 
46, 47; resign their fiefs, 48, 49 

Baths, 205, 206, 209/. 

Beggars, 227 

Book of Changes, 94 

Buddhism, adopted in China, 19; transforms Japan, 20; 
controlled education, 22; its part in the feudal w T ars, 
27; persecuted the Christians, 28; rejected by " gen- 
tlemen,' , 34; its influence, 62; Northern and Southern 
schools, 63; Gautama, 63, 69; Kwannon, 63; Amida, 
63, 70; Nikko, 63; eclecticism, 63; worship and rites, 
64; sects, 64, 65; Nirvana, 64, 71; union with Con- 
fucianism, 65; its philosophy, 66/.; Bodhisattva, 70; 
reincarnation, 70; temples, 71 f,\ priests, 73, 74; aes- 
thetics, 74; union with Shinto, 75-77; rejected by 
educated men, 81; processions in Tokyo, 258 

Chamberlain, Prof. Basil Hall, 12, 13 

269 



270 Index 

China, its civilisation, 18; adoption of Buddhism, 19; 
early influence on Japan, 20; influence on feudal 
Japan, 27; limits of its influence, 40; at war with 
Kngland and France, 41 

Chinese language, checks the development of the Japan- 
ese language, 21; becomes embedded in the Japanese 
language, 237, 238; its study the chief element in the 
older education, 240; its continued use, 246 

Chinese philosophy, adopted in the schools, 33; sup- 
planted Buddhism among " gentlemen,' ' 34; its teach- 
ing, chap, vii; doubted by many, 79 

Choshu, Clan of, its part in the Restoration of the 
Kmperor, 42-47 

Christianity, introduced in the sixteenth century, 28; ex- 
terminated, 28, 29; its part in the Korean invasion, 
31; modern missions, 58-60 

Commerce, the want of commercial honour in, 6, 7, 201; 
feudal notions dominate, 196, 197, 200; merchants 
despised, 198, 199 

Confucianism, the religion of samurai, 80; supplants 
Buddhism, 81; its problem and its solution, 82, 83; 
righteousness, 84; attack on Buddhism, 85; the sage, 
85; the " Way," 86; its schools, 87; conception of the 
State, 88, 89; of the family, 91; of the individual, 91; 
its triumph, 92; its differences from the teaching in 
China, 93; its teachings as to life and death, 93-104; 
a sermon for the people, chap, viii 

Confucius, not an originator, 18; quoted, 82, 90, 106, 111; 
87, 88, 170 

Court, the, early accepts Buddhism, 20; adopts Chinese 
civilisation, 23, 24; loses control of the Empire, 25, 26; 
in the modern era, 255, 256 

DaimyOy see Barons 
Dancing, 167 
Dutch, 29, 39 



Index 271 

Education, in ancient Japan, 14; controlled by priests, 
22; in disrepute, 26; re-established, 33; described by 
Arai Hakuseki, 143; in Aidzu, 170, 171; pedantic, 
240-242; in modern Japan, 246-251 

Emperor (Mikado, Son of Heaven), position in early 
Japan, 16; becomes Son of Heaven, 23; loses his 
powers, 26, 32; negotiations with foreigners, 43-46; 
worships at the Shinto shrine, 78; cult of, in modern 
Japan, 137, 138 

Empress, 262 

Etiquette, prescribed bylaw, 34; its connection with phi- 
losophy, 149 

Europeans (foreigners), their judgments on Japan, chap, 
i; intercourse with Japan in the sixteenth cent- 
ury, 27; awaken Japan, 40/,; asked to assist in the 
Reformation, 53; compared with the Japanese, 53; 
their help in the transformation of the Empire, 55/. 

Excursions, 211 

Farmers, 184-186 

Fashions, 230-232 

Feudal honour, 7, 196, 201, 202/. 

Fishermen, 225 

Fishing, 167; for whales, 226 

Gambling, 214 

Gardens, 163-165, 193 

Government, archaic, 16; reorganised, 23; in the dark 
ages, 26; at the end of the Tokugawa period, 39; its 
struggles, upon the opening of Japan, 40-47. See 
Politics 

Harris, Townsend, 41-45 

Hepburn, 58 

Hideyoshi, 307. 

History, its spirit and method, 242, 243 



272 Index 

Hizen, 46 

Houses, 156-158, 192, 193 

Hunting, 168 

IEMITSU, 35 

Ieyasu, 31, 34, 35 

Impetuous Male Deity, 12 

Inns, 202 /. 

Itagaki, Count, 53, 178, 261, 262 

Japan, its origin, 10; Japanese characteristics, 16, 17, 23, 

33, 5o, 5i; ambitions, 50-51, 57, 267 
Jimmu Tenno, 13 
Jin-riki-sha, 188-190 
Jurisprudence, 23 

Kataoka Kenkichi, 179, 180 
Kochi, 155, 159 
Korea, 27, 30 
Kyoto, 26, 252, 262 
Kyuso Muro, 93, 123 

Language, ii, 233-240 

Liberal Party, 53 

Life, disregard of, 136, 137, 181-183 

Literature, history, 242, 243; romance, 243, 244; poetry, 

244, 245; modern, 246 
Long-tailed fowl, 163 

Marriage, 14, 218/ 

Medicine, 22 

Mencius, 82, 88, 92, 96, 108, 150 

Merchants, 198, 199 

Mikado, see Emperor 

Missionaries, 58/I 

Mongols, 43 



Index 273 

Morality, condition in ancient Japan, 14, 15; in eleventh 
and twelfth centuries, 24; loyalty the chief virtue, 27; 
illustrations of the ideal, chap, ix, 147, 148; among 
the peasantry, 187, 188; of the sexes, 215-218 

Mori, Viscount, 182 

Music, 167 

Names, family, 220; personal, 221 
Napoleon, 32 
No, 167, 168 

Okuma, Count, 182, 261 
Opium, 215 

Parkks, Sir Harry, 48 

Peiho forts, 41 

Perry, Com. Calbraith, 35, 40, 41, 45 

Police, 228-230 

Politics, of the Restoration, 42-50; in modern Japan, 52- 

54, 260, 261; its absorbing interest, 178-181 
Polo, 172 

Records of Ancient Matters, 11, 20, 21 
Russia, 39, 40 

Sake, 14, 214 

Samurai, separated from the people, 27; manage the feu- 
dal governments, 35; constitute the learned class, 
36; form the coalition against the Shogun, 46; lead 
the movement for foreign civilisation, 50 ; judge 
themselves the equals of foreigners, 53; control mod- 
ern Japan, 54; the first converts to Christianity, 59; 
adopt the Chinese philosophy, 80, 81; the " Way of 
the Samurai" chap, ix; life in " Old Japan," chap. 
x; life in " New Japan," chap, xi ; despise mer- 
chants, 198 ; constitute the police force, 228; their 
patriotism and intelligence create New Japan, 261 ; 
not distinguished by blood or caste from the com- 
mon people, 262 



274 Index 

Sat-Cho-To, 47 

Satsutna, clan, its part in the Restoration, 42-47; its re- 
bellion, 52, 260 

Servants, 222/. 

Shinto, its traditions, chap, ii; combined with Buddhism, 
21, 76, 77; attempted restoration of, 77; its essence, 
77; its worship, 78; reasserts itself, 137, 138 

Shogun, attains power in twelfth century, 25; figure-head, 
26, 34, 39; Ieyasu and the Tokugawa line, 31-35; 
difficulties in dealing with foreigners, 42-45; over- 
throw of the shogunate, 46-49; Court of, 145-147; 
character of the fifth Shogun of the Tokugawa line, 
147, 148; attempted reforms in the reigns of his suc- 
cessors, 148, 149; Arai credited with the purpose of 
making the Shogun supreme, 150 

Shopkeepers, 201/*. 

Sidotti, Father, 150, 151 

Statesmen, chief exponents of Confucian ethics, 88 ; 
compared with foreign, 259 

Sword drill, 169 



Tea ceremony, 160-162 

Temples, 15, 16, 22, 62-64, 71, 73, 77 

Theatre, 168, 213, 257 

Thieves, 227 

Tokugawa, see Shogun 

Tokyo, chap. xv. 

Tosa, 46, 47, 53, 155 



Verbeck, 58 



Whales, 226 

Wives, 14, 91, 173-178, 218-220, 257 



Index 



275 



Women, 21, 27, 125-128, 142, 182, 185, 186, 188, 215-218, 

249, 262 
Wrestlers, 213/*. 

XaviER, 28, 29 

YKDO, 32, 36, 253 
Yoshiwara, 215 




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an insight into German life. It worthily presents a great nation, 
now the greatest and strongest in Europe." — Commercial Advertiser \ 

III.— RUSSIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By Francis H. E. Palmer, sometime Secretary to 
H. H. Prince Droutskop-Loubetsky (Equerry to 
H. M. the Emperor of Russia). 

" We would recommend this above all other works of its charac- 
ter to those seeking a clear general understanding of Russian life, 
character, and conditions, but who have not the leisure or inclina- 
tion to read more voluminous tomes. ... It cannot be too highly 
recommended, for it conveys practically all that well-informed 
people should know of 'Our European Neighbours,' "—Mail and 
Express, 



Our European Neighbours 



IV.— DUTCH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By P. M. Hough, B.A. 

•' There is no other book which gives one so clear a picture of 
actual life in the Netherlands at the present date. For its accurate 
presentation of the Dutch situation in art, letters, learning, and 
politics as well as in the round of common life in town and city, 
this book deserves the heartiest praise." — Evening Post. 

"Holland is always interesting, in any line of study. In this 
work its charm is carefully preserved. The sturdy toil of the people, 
their quaint characteristics, their conservative retention of old dress 
and customs, their quiet abstention from taking part in the great 
affairs of the world are clearly reflected in this faithful mirror. The 
illustrations are of a high grade of photographic reproductions." — 
Washington Post. 

V SWISS LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By Alfred T. Story, author of the " Building of 

the British Empire," etc. 

'•We do not know a single compact book on the same subject 
in which Swiss character in all its variety finds so sympathetic and 
yet thorough treatment ; the reason of this being that the author 
has enjoyed privileges of unusual intimacy with all classes, which 
prevented his lumping the people as a whole without distinction 
of racial and cantonal feeling." — Nation. 

''There is no phase of the lives of these sturdy republicans, 
whether social or political, which Mr. Story does not touch upon ; 
and an abundance of illustrations drawn from unhackneyed sub- 
jects adds to the value of the book."— Chicago Dial. 

VI.— SPANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By L. Higgin. 

4 'Illuminating in all of its chapters. She writes in thorough 
sympathy, bcrn of long and intimate acquaintance with Spanish 
people of to-day."— St. Paul Press. 

"The author knows her subject thoroughly and has written a 
most admirable volume. She writes with genuine love for the 
Spaniards, and with a sympathetic knowledge of their character 
and their method of life."— Canada Methodist Review, 



Our European Neighbours 



VII.— ITALIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By Luigi VlLLARI. 

" A most interesting and instructive volume, which presents an 
intimate view of the social habits and manner of thought of the 
people of which it treats."— Buffalo Express. 

" A book full of information, comprehensive and accurate. Its 
numerous attractive illustrations add to its interest and value. We 
are glad to welcome such an addition to an excellent series." — 
Syracuse Herald. 



VIII.— DANISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By Jessie H. Brochner. 

" Miss Brochner has written an interesting book on a fascinat- 
ing subject, a book which should arouse an interest in Denmark in 
those who have not been there, and which can make those who 
know and are attracted by the country very homesiek to return." — 
Commercial Advertiser. 

"She has sketched with loving art the simple, yet pure and 
elevated lives of her countrymen, and given the reader an excellent 
idea of the Danes from every point of view."— Chicago Tribune. 



IX.— AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND 
COUNTRY 

By Francis H. E. Palmer, author of " Russian 
Life in Town and Country," etc. 

"No volume in this interesting series seems to us so notable or 
valuable as this on Austro-Hungarian life. Mr. Palmer's long resi- 
dence in Kurope and his intimate association with men of mark, 
especially in their home life, has given to him a richness of experi- 
ence evident on every page of the book."— The Outlook. 

"This book cannot be too warmly recommended to those who 
have not the leisure or the spirit to read voluminous tomes of this 
subject, yet we wish a clear general understanding of Austro-Hun- 
garian life.' 1 '—Hartford Times. 



Our European Neighbours 



X.— TURKISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By L. M. J. Garnett. 

Miss Garnett, while not altogether ignoring the dark side of 
life in the Empire, portrays more particularly the peaceable life of 
the people— the domestic, industrial, social, and religious life and 
customs, the occupations and recreations, of the numerous and vari- 
ous races within the Empire presided over by the Sultan. 

"The general tone of the book is that of a careful study, the 
style is flowing, and the matter is presented in a bright, taking 
way."— St. Paul Press. 

"To the average mind the Turk is a little better than a blood- 
thirsty individual with a plurality of wives and a paucity of vir- 
tues. To read this book is to be pleasantly disillusioned."— Public 
Opinion. 

XI.— BELGIAN LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By Demetrius C. Boulger 

" Mr. Boulger has given a plain, straight-forward account of 
the several phases of Belgian Life, the government, the court, the 
manufacturing centers and enterprises, the literature and science, 
the army, education and religion, set forth informingly."— The 
Detroit Free Press. 

" The book is one of real value conscientiously written, and 
well illustrated by good photographs."— The Outlook. 

XII.— SWEDISH LIFE IN TOWN AND COUNTRY 

By G. von Heidbnstam. 



H 289 85'"1 




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